“We couldn’t handle it” – Ardie Savea reflects on Irish going over

No complaints from the Hurricanes star.

Ardie Savea was not looking for a single excuse after his side's 23-12 defeat in their Second Test against Ireland, on Saturday night. The All Blacks No.8 was man-of-the-match in the opening Test win, at Eden Park, but headed to the sidelines after a spate of yellow and red cards saw his side needing to go into uncontested scrums. As we have noted, referee Jaco Peyper and his assistants had their hands full, and brains scrambled, with three cards flashed and one penalty try shout denied in the space of 16 first half minutes. When it all shook out, New Zealand had 15 players on the field [see graphic below] when Ofa Tu'ungafasi returned from the sin-bin, and one man had to go. That man, the officials incorrectly decided, was Savea [rather than Dalton Papalii] so one of New Zealand's players had to sit out the rest of the game. Savea told reporters that he was struggling to keep track of fast-moving events on the pitch.

"Like everyone else I wasn’t sure what was going on," he said. "I was a bit frustrated. To be honest I wasn’t even watching the game. Selfishly, on my behalf."

"We had too many basic errors" - Ardie Savea

This is now the fourth time in the Test career of Ardie Savea that he has finished on the losing side to Ireland [as well as playing a part in three wins]. He captained New Zealand in Dublin, last November, when they were beaten by Andy Farrell side. Saturday's win in Dunedin was the first time Ireland have beaten an All Blacks side on their home patch. Following the game, he admitted that Ireland had been 'just too good on the night'. He commented:

"We just couldn’t hold onto the ball. Basic errors… they came with a game plan and put us under immense pressure and we couldn’t handle it down in Dunners.

"That’s pretty tough to swallow. We want to go out there and represent the black jersey and to put something out like that, it hurts. It does hurt, letting the first Irish team win here, and being part of that."

There may be changes to the All Blacks starting XV for the Third Test, in Wellington, this weekend. Will Jordan is expected to come into the team, as is Sam Whitelock, with Scott Barrett shifting back to blindside. David Havili may take the place of centre Quinn Tupaea, too. "This morning," Ardie Savea said, "we've taken it in, in terms of looking at the game and hopefully we can nullify a few things and get ready for this week because it’s going to be massive." While there may have been cribbing from some Kiwi quarters about red and yellow card calls not making for 'a fair fight', these Savea comments show the All Blacks themselves are not in denial. They know full well how dangerous this Ireland team can be, on their day.

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