O'Connell wants the knife twisted

Ireland's try-scoring lock in no mood for mercy

Ireland's Paul O'Connell was once again rueing his and his team-mates' failure to kick opponents when they were down after the 2-0 series loss to the All Blacks.

Ireland once again produced a brave performance, yet rarely looked like actually overcoming Graham Henry's team, and O'Connell was not ready to look at the positives his team produced.

"It was a typical Irish attitude. We went after the game but didn't go after the jugular like we should do," he said to the NZPA.

"In the second half I think maybe sometimes we were hoping for a bit of individual brilliance rather than going for it as an XV."

Ireland trailed 17-0 after 20 minutes, but had closed that gap to 17-20 before Luke Mcalister's late try sealed the win for New Zealand.

O'Connell believes that the pack could have shifted up yet another gear as the scorelines became closer, but that instead they left it to the backs.

"The game was there to be won. We went after it 95 per cent, but I don't think we went after it 100 per cent," he said.

"We needed to make things happen as a forward unit.

"When you have guys like O'Driscoll and D'Arcy in the team, you can take a ball off the top of the line-out and take a look up and see what happens.

"If we can recognise that as a team, I think these two weeks, while being a massive disappointment, can help us in our road to the World Cup."

Ireland's skipper Brian O'Driscoll, said the fightback underlined again the spirit within his team.

"It's a good trait, but it's a lot easier when you don't go 17 points down," he said.

"This team has really moved on in the last couple of years. We don't accept mediocrity or close losses, that's no good for us.

"Perhaps Irish teams might have been guilty of accepting close defeats as a reasonable result. That's not the case with this team."

As Paul O'Connell will testify.