New Zealand extended their remarkable unbeaten streak at Eden Park to 53 Tests with a 40-21 victory over Ireland in the third round of the Nations Championship. The All Blacks scored four first-half tries, including efforts from Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea, Will Jordan, and Asafo Aumua, to build a commanding lead. Ireland, who had won their previous two matches against Australia and Japan, struggled with errors and discipline, leaving coach Andy Farrell to lament an inaccurate performance.
First-half dominance by New Zealand
Tuipulotu opened the scoring for New Zealand, bursting onto a short pass from lock Josh Lord. Savea, the captain, doubled the lead to 14-0 when he powered over from the back of a scrum, carrying two defenders with him. The hosts were reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes after flanker Luke Jacobson received a yellow card for a dangerous ruck cleanout that made contact with Josh van der Flier's head. Ireland capitalised when back-row Jack Conan crossed from close range.
Any hope of a fightback was extinguished minutes later when Jordan swooped on a spilled pass, scoring his sixth try in three Tests. Replacement hooker Aumua added another try on the stroke of half-time, leaving Ireland trailing 28-7 at the break.
Ireland's second-half improvement not enough
Ireland improved in the second half, with lock Joe McCarthy and full-back Hugo Keenan scoring tries, both converted by Sam Prendergast. However, New Zealand responded through Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown, who added further scores to seal the win. Farrell acknowledged the quality of the opposition, saying: "Inaccurate is the word. Continuity, it just wasn't flowing for all sorts of reasons, whether that be discipline reasons, spilt ball, throwing the ball into touch, et cetera. The character and fight is there for all to see, hence the comeback and win against Australia, but you can't make so many errors against a quality side like New Zealand. Congratulations to them."
Context and implications
Ireland were back on New Zealand soil for the first time since their historic 2-1 tour victory in 2022. They have now lost four consecutive matches against the All Blacks, including the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final. New Zealand, under new head coach Dave Rennie, have won three games in a row after earlier victories over France and Italy. Rennie said: "Dave is a fantastic coach, you can see what they are trying to do. With the speed of ball and movement, it was hard to handle for us. We have got to look at how we adapt and do things better."
Farrell added: "It's the end of the season now for us, we will re-assess and make sure we learn these lessons, because otherwise what's the tour for? All these experiences are fantastic, coming to the southern hemisphere, which is where the World Cup is going to be [next year] – we need to learn those lessons."
Other Nations Championship results
In other matches, South Africa beat Wales 43-0, Scotland came from behind to defeat Fiji 33-17, and France triumphed 42-15 over Japan. New Zealand's next challenge is a tour of South Africa, where they will play four Tests against the world champions.
