WHEN THE LAST of the lights were switched off at Eden Park it was just after midnight – it was hard to imagine that a spectacle of superb, running rugby had unfolded there just three hours before.
The Irish players, humbled 42-10 by a scintillating All Black side, left by bus just after 11pm (NZ time) and more than one had been walking gingerly.
Before he could get into the post-mortem after his side’s defeat, Ireland coach Declan Kidney was forced to address a raft of injury queries.
Kidney commented, “(Cian) got a knock in the shoulder so we will have to look at that and see how it goes in the next 24 hours.
We will have to see how Mike Ross, too, is holding up and Declan Fitzpatrick, obviously, pulled up with a tight hamstring.
“Other bangs and knocks are what you would expect so nobody is ruled out,” he added. “(Keith Earls’) shoulder is a little bit sore too but I could give you names of half a dozen lads that are like that too.”
The All Blacks’ injury update? Victor Vito got a bad cut above his eye but should be fine for next Saturday’s match in Christchurch.
A long way from there to here
Four New Zealand players came out to address the media scrums and were decked out in expensive suits, complete with the Silver Fern emblem, as they stood in front of sponsorship signage.
Fergus McFadden, Peter O’Mahony and Jamie Heaslip slipped into the room in their Irish team tracksuits and sat patiently while the victors laughed, joked and talked of improving for next week.
Heaslip, as is his post-match custom, worked away on an apple and tried to remain positive.
“We gotta wear it,” he admitted, “we created a lot of mistakes, a lot of turnovers. We’ve just got to wear it.”
We’ve got to look at the video, and it is not going to be nice, but that is international rugby.
“If you make a mistake, a team like New Zealand are going to put seven points on you, like they did every time we made a mistake.”
The tackle, not the tries
Julian Savea admitted earlier in the week that he was nervous to be in the company of All Black stars such as Richie McCaw and Dan Carter but he looked anything but against Ireland.
You can see a player scoring superb tries on television and you can talk to his coaches and teammates but witnessing Savea live, in action, this evening was a pleasure.
His pace and power, and the way he linked up with Israel Dagg, was immense.
Rob Kearney and Fergus McFadden were terrorised by the duo and Savea was taken off with more than 20 minutes to go to a rousing reception from the home fans.
New Zealand’s backs coach, Ian Foster said, “In the shed afterwards, the thing I praised him about probably wasn’t the three tries.
It was that first kick that Dan Carter put down the line, (Kearney) just ran it back and Julian smashed him and created three points (from the resulting penalty).
As for the AB’s coach. Steve Hansen remarked that the ‘young man on the wing wasn’t bad, was he?’
*You can follow all the latest news, comments and goings on from the Irish camp by following @patmccarry on Twitter and by regularly checking in with TheScore.ie.
Stopped reading after the first sentence
@my name: thanks for telling us
@Fab John: Thanks for saying, thanks for telling us.
Before this turns into the predictable and at this stage boring tirade of abuse aimed at LA, think about this. You have got your dream job, something you have worked incredibly hard for, say, eg, the top law firm in the country. You’re full of optimism and hope. You begin to notice work colleagues starting work when most people are in bed and leaving when it’s dark. They’re praised for their work by the boss, so gregarious and popular around colleagues, so confident at meetings and at parties with the opposite sex. They’re getting promotion after promotion. They’re successful. And you’re finding yourself stuck at the same desk. One night at a staff party, one of these successful colleagues tells you his secret, take this and you will have it all. That’s what happened to LA…a victim.
@Shane Kelly: oh please, let’s not call him a victim in this ffs. yes it was a culture within cycling, but nobody did it more brazen, more systematic and nobody bullied and abused his position within in his team and within the UCI than him.
@Shane Kelly: that gave me a laugh
@Shane Kelly: Ok, I accept yer points. Yes, to me his biggest crime was when he was outed, he continued to lie, lie and lie. It’s scandalous and unforgivable the way he treated the Andreus and Emily O Reilly. I accept that. Fine, hold him accountable for that. But do not take 7 TdF from him when every other rider in the tour, every winner, even your great Irish heroes were at it. That’s just childish when put into context with pro cycling in general. Childish.
@Shane Kelly: How are things going in the Monastery brother, continue to pray for the those who knew not what they did but please don’t put LA in that category.
@Gerry Ryan deG: Yes, LA goes in that category brother Gerry. LA wasn’t the monster he became when he began cycling. He was faced with a choice, dope or go back to Texas and to God knows what. You and I brother Gerry and any brother or sister out there would have done the same thing. Think of me in your prayers tonight brother.
@Shane Kelly: Ah stop with your anyone would have done the same thing??? or go back to texas??? Paul Kimmage didn’t and went back to Coolock.
@Shane Kelly: are you script writer for the new series of normal people? pure fantasy. the lad was the biggest bully in sport or in any industry, a repeated lier and cheat. Victim maybe if he made one mistake and made amends, what LA did was calculated and toxic throughout his long rain
@Ardmore02: Paul Kimmage has done the sport of cycling a huge service for obvious reasons. He was faced with the choice and made his decision. He will however, never know the elation of winning a stage of the tdf, winning a classic or even a grand tour. There’s a part of him I’m sure that thinks, ‘what if’. What if he’d done what every other rider was doing and continues to do? How far could he have gone? Green jersey? He’d be like Roche and Kelly, that’s what. Venerated!!! A hero!!! And no one would give two bloody hoots.
@Seagoat returns: Nah, I’m not into writing stuff like Lord of the rings or the harry potter. You need to read a few books related to LA and the American Post team. LA should be viewed in two different periods. LA, the hugely talented amateur in the USA and LA, the hugely successful pro cyclist in Europe. I’m not disagreeing with much of what you said, he became a bully and liar. That’s a fact. But why did he become a totally different person from the man who left Texas? He was backed into a corner, forced to dope or go home. A victim of the system. If you call that as good as writing about ‘my precious’, fair enough. But it’s the hard truth.
@Shane Kelly: go watch the clip on YouTube where he tries to publicly destroy Paul Kimmage for doing his job. Walsh and Kimmage as well as others were taken to court and came close to losing their jobs and careers. I’ve seen Armstrong described as a psychopaths I agree.
Armstrong is the picture perfect narcissist.
Even after admitting to cheating, he’s still in denial.
@Colm O’Sullivan: Most people are narcissists today, selfies?? Google LA and Oprah. I think it’s fairly clear he admitted everything way back then.
Armstrong would ride his granny if he thought it would give him an advantage.
@kieran lynch: Just LA? High achievers don’t reach the pinnacle of their profession by playing nice guys or gals. But I think they’d draw the line at their grandmother.
Cheats disrespect the very sport they participate in. Who even watches the cycling tours anymore. Not me anyway. As soon as I see cycling I automatically switch channel away from eurosport. Lance had a lot to do with this decision. Most rational people know its full of cheats and turn off. The same has happened in athletics. Very few watch any more with the same level of interest as most likely doping is going on. Most world records in Athletics should probably be removed from the record books post 1986. So cheats ruin it for everyone and I would have no respect for anyone that cheats and would avoid them at all costs. Cheating is one of the worst things about humanity but unfortunately its an epidemic in some sports.
@Imagine !: There is performance enhancing drugs used in every single sport and to deny that is irrational. So what are you going to do, go shopping in IKEA with the missus for the rest of your life? July won’t be the same without the TdF, the greatest spectator sport on Earth!! imho of course.
@Imagine !: not some sports! ALL SPORTS! Your seriously naive to think only a few sports have drug cheats! Its rampant worldwide in all sports! Don’t be using cycling as an example when every sports at it, and I’d be checking viewing figures about not many people watching it anymore, one of the most watched sports in the world now
@Shane Kelly: Totally agree with the tdf being the greatest spectator sport. amazing atmosphere when there are 1000′s of fans lining the roads millimetres from the riders.
Someone said decline in viewing numbers. Did you just pluck that one from the sky?. 3.5 billion ppeople tuned in to last year’s edition worldwide and 12 million lines the road.
Hardly a decrease in viewers now.
Anyone know where I could watch this?? Nwtdlix or Amazon?
@The Great Cornholio: Nwtdlix definitely won’t have it.