Ireland captain Rory Best gears up teammates for New Zealand rematch

The All Blacks will have remedied the issues that saw them outplayed a fortnight ago, and I reckon they’ll win it in the last 10 minutes with two late tries.

Rival first five Jonny Sexton was adamant that he had prevented the try from being scored.

The newly crowned World Rugby Player of the Year cruised through a gaping hole in the Irish defence to breeze over the line, but Sexton chased the lost cause and appeared to have gotten his arm beneath the ball as Barrett attempted to ground it.

Smarting after their sub-par showing two weeks ago, the All Blacks roared out of the blocks early, controlling the opening phases and pushing their noses in front.

“Today was all about how they would stand up to that pressure. they answered that”.

“I’m pretty happy”, said Hansen. “I think in Chicago we turned up with our attitude off by 5 percent and we paid for that”.

“You’ve got to have that as a goal and you’ve got to strive for those trophies at the end of the season”.

“Just go back to Chicago, it was 40-29 and they (Ireland) won easy”.

“I’d like to see some consistency throughout the game”, Hansen said.

The All Blacks’ performance in Dublin was far from flawless.

Aaron Smith and Malakai Fekitoa both spent time in the bin, the latter for a high tackle, while openside Sam Cane was spared for a crunching effort on Robbie Henshaw.

But it is in adversity that the size of someone’s heart can be measured.

“The pressure of expectation that was set this week will hold us in good stead for the future”, captain Kieran Read told reporters. “As Steve said the character of the men really showed up. We had to work bloody hard”.

Then the green wave slammed up against the All Black rocks, spurred on by the Irish back row bruisers who were fantastic.

“It’s going to be a big game for us after Chicago, coming to play in Dublin is always huge”. There was a collective will to ensure that the result in Chicago would not prove a one-off.

Ireland made one enforced change from the side that recorded their first ever victory over New Zealand, handing Sean O’Brien a start at flanker as they aim for two-in-row against the world champions on Saturday.

On came Garry Ringrose for just his second cap in the 12 minute. But that was as good as it got for Ireland and the game was effectively killed when Fekiota crossed over after a brilliant move by the All Blacks to make the score 21-9. Their kicking game, one of their strengths in the United States, will need to be on point, and the pressure will be on Simon Zebo, who was excellent in Chicago, and Rob Kearney to compete with New Zealand for every kick that Jonny Sexton sends down the field. “Although it wasn’t as great as we’d like it to be”. It wasn’t a lot different to what we had done in South Africa but you get access points through a few first-half lineouts, get a bit of momentum and confidence and suddenly when you are playing with confidence it’s quite a bit different. “It’s as simple as that”.