IRELAND’S EFFORTS TO do damage to the All Blacks’ defence ended in a bit of a shambles.

The game was already well and truly decided with New Zealand leading 23-13 in the final minute, but it was still an ugly sight for Ireland.

An attacking lineout on the Kiwi 10-metre line should have meant a platform for one final chance to salvage pride, but Ireland didn’t even get off the ground.

Rob Herring’s throw sailed into the hands of All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu with the Irish lineout in disarray on the ground.

By that stage, plenty of Irish fans had already started to make their exit on a night when their team’s attack failed to get firing.

Ireland defended stoically throughout but their inability to use possession positively meant they had to soak up far too much pressure.

It will have made for a grim review for head coach Andy Farrell, who is in charge of Ireland’s phase-play attack, backs coach Andrew Goodman, who is responsible for their strike plays from set-piece, and forwards coach Paul O’Connell, who leads the Irish lineout and breakdown work.

Ireland never got into the kind of fluid, cohesive attacking flow that has become their trademark under Farrell, with shortcomings in the early stages of possession meaning they didn’t have much multi-phase attack.

Ireland made a rather bright start to the game, Andrew Porter’s blockdown of a Cortez Ratima box kick resulting in Will Jordan knocking on.

Goodman would have been pleased with the first Irish launch of the night as a simple ’11′ play – one phase infield before going back to the other side – got them onto the front foot.

On first phase from the right-hand-side scrum, Bundee Aki carries directly off Jack Crowley.

With quick ball, Ireland immediately bounce back to their right and Jamison Gibson-Park has a few options.

Gibson-Park scoots away from the breakdown to engage Scott Barrett [red below], while the next Kiwi defender, Tyrel Lomax [yellow] is worried about a pass out towards Andrew Porter and Joe McCarthy [black].

Mack Hansen [blue above] is swinging to the right to offer a threat on Gibson-Park’s outside shoulder, but the pass goes to James Ryan [pink] running in between Barrett and Lomax.

Ireland are in behind and with another rapid recycle, they continue into the shortside.

A nice catch-pass from Hansen as first receiver allows hooker Rónan Kelleher and tighthead prop Finlay Bealham – who have held width after the scrum – to surge up into New Zealand’s 22.

It’s a snappy three-phase play from the scrum and Ireland are into a promising position, playing on top of the Kiwis.

But as they slip into their phase attack inside the 22, Ireland overplay their hand.

Porter makes a carry off nine on the next phase but then Ireland play off 10 as Crowley hits Tadhg Beirne and he plays a ‘circle’ pass out the back to Aki.

Caelan Doris runs the short front-door line off Aki but we can see that All Blacks wing Mark Tele’a has closed up and in on the Ireland captain.

Hoping that Tele’a will read out the back of Doris onto Garry Ringrose, Aki plays the ball to his skipper but it comes forward off Doris.

With Jordan covering Ringrose out the back anyway, Ireland and Aki will likely reflect that they could have held the ball here, having already generated momentum in their attack and pressurised the Kiwis in their 22.

Still, it seemed like a promising start and Ireland then had success with their next set-piece launch. Doris carried in midfield off a four-man lineout on the right, then they immediately went to the sky with a Gibson-Park box kick.

It might seem a little unrefined but given the new directive around kick escorting that we looked at last week, it makes sense.

Ireland know New Zealand have to be squeaky clean in allowing the Irish kick chasers through, but they’re not.

It’s centre Jordie Barrett [red above] who runs a line across the chasing Hansen [yellow], obstructing him from getting to the ball.

Referee Nic Berry is close by and instantly picks out the penalty.

Ireland slot three points off the tee through Crowley and can be very content with the efficiency of their first lineout attack of the game.

But the frustration soon begins to mount.

In the 11th minute, Ireland are attacking after a Kiwi exit kick when an excellent decoy line by Josh van der Flier opens up space in front of Aki.

Van der Flier’s threatening line sits down All Blacks hooker Asafo Aumua as first receiver Hansen passes out the back to Aki.

With All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane having sat off, there’s space for Aki to accelerate into and at least make a good dent for Ireland but he takes his eyes off the ball, looking up at the space, and knocks on.

On a dry night, Aki probably keeps hold of it but it slips through his grasp here for a frustrating unforced error.

The next Irish attack fails to get going at all as New Zealand make their first lineout steal.

Ireland opt for another four-man lineout in the 16th minute and before the ball is even thrown, we can see the Kiwis applying pressure. Watch as Scott Barrett edges closer to Joe McCarthy, closing the gap and pushing the Irish lock.

Beirne, Ireland’s lineout caller in this game, shouts “Gap” at the assistant referee and McCarthy does the same a moment later.

But Ireland continue with their lineout plan, with McCarthy back pedaling to jump.

Tupou Vaa’i, who is initially set up to lift Barrett from behind, now becomes the defensive jumper for the Kiwis as they predict that McCarthy is going to jump rather than just dummying.

Barrett becomes the front lifter on Vaa’i, while prop Tyrel Lmoax reacts from behind to get a rear lift on Vaa’i, who actually manages to jump before McCarthy is even off the ground.

It’s excellent defensive work from the Kiwis, but Ireland may wonder whether their lineout play was just a hint too basic, particularly given that Beirne had no active part at all, standing still at the back throughout.

Vaa’i's steal means we don’t get to see what Goodman had planned off this lineout just inside Ireland’s half.

It was over seven minutes of game time until the next Irish chance to attack and though they played off the top of a cleanly won lineout, they were turned over within two phases.

Aki carries on first phase again, Crowley finding him out the back of van der Flier off a six-man lineout, but Ireland lose the gainline and the ball is slow.

Jordie Barrett chops in low and Sam Cane goes high to stop Aki, meaning Ireland aren’t coming forward to the breakdown. They’re frustrated by where Barrett ends up post-tackle but Berry says, “The ball’s there, nine” to Gibson-Park as he struggles to clear it.

The delay means Kelleher, who has worked all the way around the corner from his lineout throw, overruns the ball and is left out of the game.

That makes New Zealand’s job much easier on second phase as they can clearly see that Doris is getting the ball.

The Ireland captain has Ringrose [yellow below] running a front-door option here, with Crowley [blue] and lock McCarthy [pink] bouncing out the back door.

This is a similar lineout play to one Leinster used under Goodman, which usually involved hitting McCarthy out the back to surge at the defence on second phase, as below.

But in the Ireland instance, Doris decides to tip a pass on to Ringrose to charge at the front door.

One of the issues with tip-on passes is that the passer often gets tackled just after releasing the ball, meaning they’re delayed or prevented from getting to the subsequent breakdown. That’s part of the issue here as Ireland get turned over.

The defensive work from New Zealand is excellent, with Aumua tackling Ringrose back infield, from where he knows there will be a jackal threat. It’s duly provided by the brilliant Wallace Sititi, who wins the race to the ball.

Doris is delayed by Lomax hitting him just as he passes, while McCarthy is left some distance away because Aumua drives Ringrose infield. By the time Doris gets to Sititi, he’s locked onto the ball and New Zealand have their penalty.

The ensuing bout of Kiwi pressure in Ireland’s half ends with them kicking a penalty for a 6-3 lead.

Ireland have better success on their next attack from a scrum.

Hugo Keenan starts behind the scrum before swinging left, with Gibson-Park drawing opposite number Ratima before passing to his fullback.

Damian McKenzie does a fine job of tracking and tackling Keenan, but Aki makes a good clearout for quick ball.

Ireland head into the shortside on second phase, with Doris sprinting all the way across along with Crowley to play short passes out to Lowe.

It’s a little unusual in that Doris and Crowley are moving laterally with no straightening lines to sit down the defence, but Lowe is able to make further gains up towards the 22.

With relatively few Irish bodies in the vicinity, New Zealand sense a chance for a turnover and back rows Savea and Cane launch in on the counter-ruck. They lose their feet barging through yet Cane still drives into scrum-half Gibson-Park.

Berry sounds his whistle for an Irish penalty and they kick into touch on the left for an ideal chance to score in the 33rd minute.

Ireland back their maul but they’re dominated by superb Kiwi maul defence.

New Zealand forwards coach Jason Ryan takes huge pride in this area of the game and having conceded a maul penalty try, another try to Gibson-Park off a close-range maul, and narrowly avoided another Irish maul score from Kelleher in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, he surely pushed his players hard in this area.

New Zealand never intend to compete in the air here, instead focusing everything into their maul defence on the ground.

Their superbly choreographed effort sees them binding tightly and targeting every single seam in between the Irish players, all the while casting a net around the Irish maul so there’s no edge for Ireland to shift a drive around, infield or back towards the touchline.

Ireland’s maul doesn’t budge an inch. New Zealand’s defence is a thing of beauty here.

Having already warned Ireland once and with progress upfield still not coming, Berry tells Ireland to play away from the maul.

Aki is the man to carry again but this time, there is major frustration for Ireland as Ratima plays the ball post-tackle while off his feet.

10 metres from the Kiwi tryline, it’s so brazen that there’s a risk of a yellow card against Ratima if he’s spotted here.

But Berry is on the far side of the breakdown and with a tangle of legs in his eyeline, doesn’t pick up Ratima scooping the ball back.

“Nothing clear there, guys,” says Berry to his team of match officials as Ireland appeal to him.

None of his official intervene so play continues and All Blacks wing Caleb Clarke launches an exit kick all the way up to the halfway line.

Compounding the irritation at Ratima’s actions being missed, Ireland see their lineout getting picked off for a second time.

Barrett steals the Irish throw but Ireland will probably feel that he never should have had the chance.

New Zealand focus their defensive attention on the front and middle of this lineout, particularly when lineout caller Beirne [in the blue scrum cap] swaps slots with McCarthy, as we see below.

Watch how Vaa’i [number 5] reacts, edging forward to get himself in front of McCarthy.

That means Vaa’i is less likely to be able to turn back and get a front lift on Sititi [number 6] if Ireland throw to Doris at the tail.

Finlay Bealham [highlighted with the yellow arrow below] can either turn forward and lift McCarthy, as he does, or turn back and lift Doris.

Bealham is considerably closer to Doris than Vaa’i is to Sititi, so there’s an obvious advantage if Ireland change their call and go to the tail.

The All Blacks are essentially ‘giving’ Ireland the tail here, marking up at the front and back, and challenging them to take on the longer, tougher throw. Ireland opt to go ahead with their plan to throw to the middle.

For the second time, New Zealand’s defensive jumper is off the ground before McCarthy and Barrett is up in front of him too.

It’s a brilliant clean steal of the lineout and it’s costly again. The ensuing bout of Kiwi pressure in Ireland’s half yields another three points for a 9-3 lead.

But Ireland end the first half on a positive note as an explosive carry from Aki leads to Jordie Barrett’s yellow card and three points for Ireland.

From a clean Irish lineout win, Crowley hits Aki and the inside centre smashes through the tackle attempts from Cane and McKenzie to surge over the gainline.

Aumua tackles him but Aki’s hands are free and he offloads to Ringrose, who is stopped by Barrett’s illegal tackle.

Ireland play the penalty advantage and make further gains through a nice Doris tip-on to Kelleher but the Kiwis kill their momentum as Vaa’i fails to roll clear of his tackle.

Barrett goes to the bin, the bunker opting against upgrading his sanction to a red card, and Ireland’s positive attack allows them to head into the break trailing by only three points.

Farrell’s men enjoy an ideal opening to the second half as Vaa’i's obstruction on Lowe directly from the restart allowed Ireland to kick into the left corner. Initially, it looks like the chance would be lost as the Irish maul is dismantled.

Again, the Kiwis stay down and time their defensive drive beautifully as they hammer Ireland in the instant McCarthy lands from his jump.

Berry warns Ireland immediately, “Backwards, once” and there’s a sudden panic for Ireland as ball-carrier Kelleher gets swept up into the maul.

Kelleher lifts the ball up in a bid to offload back onto the Irish side but Vaa’i swats it out of his grasp.

It looks like a big win for the Kiwi pack but Cane is caught turning behind his own tryline, Aki and Lowe doing an excellent job of driving him back over for a five-metre scrum.

Ireland take their chance the second time around.

Doris’ carry off the scrum is powerful to get them rolling.

Ireland lose a few metres on a slightly stilted second phase as Ringrose carries but Ryan does well coming around the corner on the next phase, then Porter makes a big impact as the fourth carrier.

It’s nice footwork from Porter to step inside Lomax and it takes a muscular effort from Savea to stop the Irish loosehead from surging all the way to the line.

Beirne is next to carry and then van der Flier finishes the job on sixth phase.

It’s an excellent line from van der Flier as he runs slightly infield towards the ball, taking him inside Tamaiti Williams but to the outside of Sititi, whose head is turned in toward the ball.

Van der Flier’s power is evident as he rides the shot from Williams and drives into Sititi, as well as Ratima who slides in behind Sititi.

Van der Flier has the presence of mind to accurately ground the ball and with Crowley converting, Ireland are 13-9 up.

Barrett still has five minutes left in the sin bin, so Ireland are obviously keen to continue piling the pressure onto the Kiwis.

They find themselves back on the attack in New Zealand’s 22 less than a minute later as Gibson-Park’s brilliant tackle on Jordan on kick chase earns them a clean turnover. 

But with New Zealand seemingly reeling, Ireland are penalised at the breakdown.

Van der Flier carries and Jordan beats Lowe in the race to the breakdown, the Kiwi fullback jackaling for the ball as he desperately tries to atone for being turned over in the first place.

Lowe’s initial clearout arrival lacks impact and he slides up onto Jordan’s neck to remove him. It’s not spotted live by Berry but he gets a call from assistant referee Karl Dickson on the touchline and Lowe is penalised.

The chance to hit New Zealand again while they’re still down to 14 is missed. In fact, Ireland concede three points before Barrett returns from the bin and again, a breakdown turnover is the cause.

Porter tips on a pass to McCarthy without quite convincing the Kiwi defenders that Porter himself is a big carry threat here.

That means Scott Barrett [yellow below] can turn out to tackle McCarthy low, taking out his legs as Aumua [pink] turns in onto McCarthy and goes high. 

Ireland need to be urgent in getting to the breakdown here, but they’re beaten to the punch again.

Crowley [blue below] is already turning away to get set for the next phase, presuming that Porter [red] will be able to make the clean from inside McCarthy.

But Aumua makes a brilliant poach, throwing McCarthy to ground as he finishes the tackle and helping to ensure the ball is exposed for him to target.

Porter can’t generate enough momentum to blast the powerful Aumua clear as the All Blacks hooker gets a wide base. The Irish prop then looks to pull Aumua off to his right but croc rolls are now illegal so he has to be careful.

By the time Doris arrives on the scene, Aumua has already done enough to earn the penalty, which McKenzie kicks to leave the All Blacks a point behind at 13-12.

Ireland get one final attack before Barrett is freed from the sin bin.

From a left-hand-side lineout just inside New Zealand’s half, they run the same play as they used in the first half when Sititi earned a breakdown turnover. 

Aki does well to win the gainline on first phase.

This time, it’s quick ball and now we see what Ireland had wanted to throw at the Kiwis earlier.

Kelleher [yellow below] runs the tight line close to the ruck, while Doris [white] is bouncing out the back of Kelleher.

Ringrose [black above] is readying himself to run the front-door option for Doris, while McCarthy [pink] and Crowley [blue] will be out the back.

Ringrose’s role is to lure defenders inwards onto his running line, while Crowley wants to drag others outwards, the combined effect opening space for McCarthy to power into.

But as we see below, Sititi is smart enough to read off Ringrose to McCarthy out the back.

Sititi drops in low to tackle McCarthy as Ioane turns in and connects with his upper body, forcing the ball loose. McCarthy will obviously be disappointed with his ball security in the carry.

Barrett returns in the next break in play, New Zealand restored to 15 players.

Ireland are instantly back on the attack from a scrum but a knock-on from Crowley follows.

This is on third phase of the scrum attack and Ireland’s ‘map’ from the set-piece details that they will try to target the Kiwi front row [marked in red below] at this stage of the attack.

Crowley has nice options, with Bealham and Porter [yellow above] in a two-man pod and Hansen [blue] bouncing out the back. Kelleher [black] is ready to run a front-door option for Hansen, with Lowe [pink] out the back. Beirne is holding width further out.

But with opportunity knocking, Crowley has a repeat of the Aki error from earlier in the game. It’s easy to take your eyes off the ball when you sense something is on.

In the 59th minute, still leading 13-12, Gibson-Park and Hansen nearly create a thrilling chance with Ireland attacking from a scrum in their own half.

While the play seems to be called on the move, rather than before the scrum, it’s clearly something Ireland have discussed attempting.

Gibson-Park probably puts more power on his kick than intended here, giving Jordan a better chance of getting to the ball ahead of Hansen.

With Cam Roigard pressuring Gibson-Park’s kick, Jordan does a great job of winning the contest with Hansen. The Kiwi fullback leads into the aerial battle with a strong left knee, helping him to come away with the ball.

New Zealand soon take the lead through McKenzie’s fifth successful penalty goal of the night, placing more pressure on Ireland to deliver in attack.

But now trailing 15-13, they produce another handling error.

Ireland are usually slick and cohesive in their interplay between backs and forwards but the calibrations are off in this instance.

Replacement out-half Ciarán Frawley’s pass is to the back shoulder of sub lock Iain Henderson, who knocks it on.

Henderson is heading into a dense collection of hungry Kiwi forwards and obviously begins bracing himself for contact, so the fizzing pass from Frawley is very difficult to take up behind his head.

Once again, the Irish attacking failure results in pressure that brings more Kiwi points. Within 90 seconds of the knock-on, Henderson concedes a breakdown penalty that allows McKenzie to make it 18-13 to New Zealand.

A few minutes later, the All Blacks finally crack the Irish defence and Jordan scores.

23-13 down, Ireland needed to react quickly and a brilliant 50:22 kick from Lowe gives them hope with an attacking lineout in the New Zealand 22 with eight minutes left. It’s enough time for two scores, but Ireland have to be clinical, quick, and accurate.

They start well, with Lowe nearly busting through from a disguised inside pass by Aki.

This is the same inside pass that Ireland used to crucial effect in their two Tests in South Africa in July, albeit from a lineout now rather than goal line drops outs as was the case against the Springboks.

An excellent tackle by Savea just about stops Lowe before he can scoot through the defensive line. Frawley is smashed off the ball by Aumua, although the Irish out-half is arguably ahead of the ball and it’s ignore. Still, Ireland have momentum as they proceed to thunder into their phase play.

But any real hopes of a comeback fade as Savea pounces for another Kiwi turnover.

Savea deserves great credit for his ability to snap over the ball but it’s a tired effort from Beirne and Bealham in attempting to clear him away.

Beirne slips off Savea when he has the chance to deny him a jackal effort, while Bealham is reactive rather than proactive. Savea gets his hands to the ball and Berry’s whistle follows.

With the clock ticking down, Frawley dinks a chip over the All Blacks defence.

Hansen nearly taps the ball away from Jordie Barrett and into his own grasp but he knocks on with his left hand.

It proves to be the last proper throw of the dice from Ireland.

It ends with the calamitous lineout that sums up a sloppy, inaccurate night for Ireland.