Young Ireland ‘A’ Side Take ‘A Lot Of Learnings’ From Heavy Defeat

Ireland ‘A’ were very much second best on the night as player-of-the-match Damian McKenzie, who finished with 17 points, inspired a 47-19 victory for the All Blacks XV at the RDS.

‘A’ INTERNATIONAL MATCH: Friday, November 4

IRELAND ‘A’ 19 ALL BLACKS XV 47, RDS Arena
Scorers: Ireland ‘A’: Tries: Ciaran Frawley, Martin Moore, Max Deegan; Cons: Ciaran Frawley, Jack Crowley
All Blacks XV: Tries: Shaun Stevenson 2, Brodie McAlister, Ruben Love, Braydon Ennor, AJ Lam, Damian McKenzie; Cons: Damian McKenzie 6
HT: Ireland ‘A’ 7 All Blacks XV 19

A well-worked try for Ciaran Frawley, just before half-time, and close-range scores from replacement Martin Moore and Max Deegan were the highlights for Ireland ‘A’ on a tough night at the office.

The All Blacks XV were much sharper in attack – winger Shaun Stevenson scored two of their seven tries – and their line speed in defence and ability to slow up Irish ball and win collisions caused the hosts huge problems.

Stevenson’s second score came from a brilliant team breakout, moving them 19 points clear before Frawley’s effort under the posts closed the gap to 12 points at half-time.

Leon MacDonald’s men were ruthless in converting their chances, though, and Ruben Love, Braydon Ennor, AJ Lam and out-half McKenzie all crossed to make it a runaway victory.

Reflecting on the heavy for his team which had an average age of 24, Ireland head coach Andy Farrell said: “We’re disappointed obviously. The lads are gutted in there. We were up against a very good side tonight and there’s a lot of learnings from it.

“I just said to the lads, ‘it’s what you take from it that matters, how you go back to your provinces and have a good think on how you’re going to use this experience’.

“Obviously we got schooled in a good few areas, but the learnings that come as far as our game control, our breakdown. Our physical contact work, etc,, was a bit off the pace.

“When you make so many errors, especially in the first 20-25 minutes and territory and field position is way against you, a side like this with the skill level and speed that they have, it told in the end.”

He added: “Just the quality that they’ve come up against, our lads. They know the strength in depth that the All Blacks have got is vast, isn’t it? We’re trying to grow that.

“If two or three lads come through this experience hopefully for the better of it, over the next month or two, and then put themselves in the shop window for the Six Nations, it’s been a decent evening for ourselves.

“But try telling that to the lads in the dressing room. They’re bitterly disappointed but they’ll use this experience in the right manner.”

TJ Perenara led the tourists through the haka, the vastly-experienced scrum half suffering an early turnover at the hands of Joe McCarthy before Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was penalised for going offside.

Ireland ‘A’ had to scramble back when Gavin Coombes knocked on as he hurtled onto a pass, and Jacob Stockdale, having retrieved a kick downfield, had his own effort blocked down by the inrushing Stevenson.

There were promising early signs for the All Blacks XV attack, but Jamie Osborne repelled them with a brilliant exit kick and Michael Lowry was alert to a McKenzie chip over the top.

However, it was McKenzie’s left boot then created the opening try, 10 minutes in. His cross-field kick was perfectly placed for Stevenson to swoop on it, ahead of Ireland ‘A’ captain Craig Casey on the edge of the home 22, and run in a seven-pointer.

Calvin Nash was swallowed up in midfield from the next Irish starter play, Stevenson getting in quickly at the breakdown to force the penalty. His captain Patrick Tuipulotu soon chipped in with a lineout steal.

Two penalties drew the New Zealanders up to five metres out, and a Tuipulotu catch launched a well-executed lineout drive over the line for hooker Brodie McAlister to score. McKenzie converted from the right for a 14-0 lead.

When Ireland ‘A’ finally found some space near halfway thanks to good work from Jeremy Loughman, it was 20-year-old centre Osborne who twice carried well. Crucially, Dominic Gallagher got his fingertips to the ball to disrupt the Irish lineout and the All Blacks XV were ruthless on the break.

McKenzie led the pacy counter attack from deep, Tuivasa-Sheck and Tuipulotu taking them past halfway before McKenzie unleashed Love from 40 metres out and he fed Stevenson to cut inside Nick Timoney and finish past Coombes in the right corner.

Stockdale claimed Frawley’s restart to lift Ireland ‘A’, and although Frawley was guilty of missing touch a couple of minutes later, a late, no-arms clear-out on James Hume landed Luke Jacobsen in the sin bin.

Ireland ‘A’ were sloppy at the breakdown at times, a Perenara turnover and then a counter ruck a few phases later also seeing MacDonald’s charges snatch back the ball. Territorially though, it was the best Irish spell of the first half.

They got the try that they craved when Stockdale and Hume threatened inside the visitors’ 22, quick hands from Hume, Cian Prendergast and Tom O’Toole opening up the opportunity and the Ulster prop’s final offload saw Frawley past Ennor.

The Skerries man converted his own try, but those seven points were handed back when Ireland ‘A’ made a nightmare start to the second half.

Stevenson jinked and accelerated away from Hume and Nash, releasing Perenara from the Irish 10-metre line and just as Nash caught him, he linked with Love for a diving finish behind the posts. McKenzie added the extras to make it 26-7.

A strong bout of Irish pressure followed, with a close-in maul stopped short and Dave Heffernan turned over by Gardiner off a quick tap. The busy Crusaders flanker was involved in his side’s next try in the 53rd minute.

McKenzie’s neatly delayed pass put Gardiner galloping through a gap, Lam was up in support and offloaded out of a tackle from Nash for centre Ennor to cross out wide on the left. McKenzie’s kick widened the margin to 26 points.

 

The home crowd increased the decibel level when Ulster tighthead Moore muscled over from a ruck to score a try on his return to the green jersey after a seven-year absence.

It came from a quick tap by Diarmuid Barron and some pick and drives from the Irish pack. Jack Crowley had come off the bench to good effect, making an initial break, and the work-hungry Osborne ran hard too.

Again though, Ireland ‘A’ conceded a soft try soon after. Replacement Crowley threw an intercept pass to Tuivasa-Sheck, allowing McKenzie to direct matters before Lam finished well in the left corner. McKenzie threaded over another fine conversion.

A poor pass from Lowry blew a rare opportunity for Nash out wide, and as both benches were emptied up to the 70-minute mark, the play became looser and looser with handling errors from both teams.

With just under eight minutes remaining, blindside Gardiner scooped up a ruck ball and replacement Josh Ioane blasted his way through midfield to send McKenzie over for a deserved try. His conversion left it 47-12 on the scoreboard.

Ireland ‘A’ did manage to sign off with a late consolation score, the impressive Nash was very prominent as he threatened from a kick through before deftly combining with replacement Caolin Blade. It all led to Deegan driving over, with support from Barron.

Crowley got on the scoresheet by converting the tenth try of the night, yet he had to react swiftly, along with Deegan, to hold up All Blacks XV replacement Cam Roigard and prevent him from sneaking in a last-minute score.

TIME LINE: 10 minutes – All Blacks XV try: Shaun Stevenson – 0-5; conversion: Damian McKenzie – 0-7; 20 mins – All Blacks XV try: Brodie McAlister – 0-12; conversion: Damian McKenzie – 0-14; 25 mins – All Blacks XV try: Shaun Stevenson – 0-19; conversion: missed by Damian McKenzie – 0-19; 29 mins – All Blacks XV yellow card: Luke Jacobsen; 36 mins – Ireland ‘A’ try: Ciaran Frawley – 5-19; conversion: Ciaran Frawley – 5-19; Half-time – Ireland ‘A’ 5 All Blacks XV 19; 41 mins – All Blacks XV try: Ruben Love – 7-24; conversion: Damian McKenzie – 7-26; 53 mins – All Blacks XV try: Braydon Ennor – 7-31; conversion: Damian McKenzie – 7-33; 57 mins – Ireland ‘A’ try: Martin Moore – 12-33; conversion: missed by Jack Crowley – 12-33; 60 mins – All Blacks XV try: AJ Lam – 12-38; conversion: Damian McKenzie – 12-40; 73 mins – All Blacks XV try: Damian McKenzie – 12-45; conversion: Damian McKenzie – 12-47; 76 mins – Ireland ‘A’ try: Max Deegan – 17-47; conversion: Jack Crowley – 19-47; Full-time – Ireland ‘A’ 19 All Blacks XV 47

IRELAND ‘A’: Michael Lowry (Banbridge/Ulster); Calvin Nash (Young Munster/Munster), Jamie Osborne (Naas/Leinster), James Hume (Banbridge/Ulster), Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster); Ciaran Frawley (Skerries/Leinster), Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster) (capt); Jeremy Loughman (Garryowen/Munster), Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht), Tom O’Toole (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Joe McCarthy (Dublin University/Leinster), Gavin Thornbury (Connacht), Cian Prendergast (Connacht), Nick Timoney (Banbridge/Ulster), Gavin Coombes (Young Munster/Munster).

Replacements used: Ross Molony (UCD/Leinster) for McCarthy (7 mins), Shane Daly (Cork Constitution/Munster) for Lowry (29-half-time), Jack Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster) for Frawley (46), Diarmuid Barron (Garryowen/Munster) for Heffernan, Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster) for Loughman, Martin Moore (Ulster) for O’Toole (all 51), Max Deegan (Lansdowne/Leinster) for Coombes (54), Daly for Hume (56), Caolin Blade (Galwegians/Connacht) for Casey (67).

ALL BLACKS XV: Ruben Love (Wellington/Hurricanes); Shaun Stevenson (North Harbour/Chiefs), Braydon Ennor (Canterbury/Crusaders), Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (Auckland/Blues), AJ Lam (Auckland/Blues); Damian McKenzie (Waikato/Chiefs), TJ Perenara (Wellington/Hurricanes); Aidan Ross (Bay of Plenty/Chiefs), Brodie McAlister (Canterbury/Crusaders), Tevita Mafileo (Bay of Plenty/Hurricanes), Josh Dickson (Otago/Highlanders), Patrick Tuipulotu (Auckland/Blues) (capt), Dominic Gardiner (Canterbury/Crusaders), Luke Jacobson (Waikato/Chiefs), Marino Mikaele-Tu’u (Hawke’s Bay/Highlanders).

Replacements used: Tamaiti Williams (Canterbury/Crusaders) for Mafileo, Zach Gallagher (Canterbury/Crusaders) for Dickson (both 51 mins), Finlay Brewis (Canterbury/Crusaders) for Ross (59), Alex Nankivell (Tasman/Chiefs) for Tuivasa-Sheck (61), Cam Roigard (Counties Manukau/Hurricanes) for Perenara, Josh Ioane (Otago/Chiefs) for Love (both 65), Christian Lio-Willie (Otago/Crusaders) for Mikaele-Tu’u (66), Tyrone Thompson (Hawke’s Bay/Chiefs) for McAlister (68).

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)