Another Dynamic Failure

A dying Messala told Ben Hur that "the race goes on, Judah". Well, for Ireland the race still goes on, the race against time to finally defeat New Zealand before the full-time whistle is itself blown upon the universe. I fear that the apocalypse will arrive before the Oirish ever conquer the All Blacks. On Sunday past, the men in green had perfectly established a platform to get this southern hemisphere monkey off their backs, but characteristically we succumbed to yet another glorious defeat.

To lead nineteen points to nil, after a barnstorming start, was all well and good, but to fail to close out the victory smacks of near-incompetence, albeit against the best side in the world. Ireland must learn or re-discover the knack of closing out matches and winning close contests. Sure, we all expected New Zealand to bounce back from their early pummeling, but here was one outstanding opportunity to finish off the All Blacks, and again we fluffed our lines. On the credit side, twas good to see that each of our three try-scorers hailed from each of the three main provinces [sorry Connacht folk]. What was bewildering was that we held our own for much of the second half when we might reasonably have been under the cosh. What was less forgiveable was that when the Kiwis got close to our try line, they made their rare incursions count. If nothing else, this remains a painful lesson of how to be clinical and execute chances. Ireland of course will play worse than this in future matches and win them, but that is of little consolation to the team who charcteristically came up just short against our southern hemisphere foes. 'Heartbreaking' doesn't begin to describe that sinking feeling!  

IRELAND 22 New Zealand 24; at the Aviva Stadium; Sunday 24th November 2013

15 Kearney.R [TRY]

14 Bowe

13 O'Driscoll

12 D'Arcy

11 Kearney.D

10 Sexton [penalty, 2 conversions]

9 Murray [TRY]

8 Heaslip

7 O'Brien

6 O'Mahony

5 O'Connell

4 Toner

3 Ross

2 Best [TRY]

1 Healy