Two players stood out head and shoulders above their world-class teammates.
Two men took the fight to the opposition and constantly had them on their heels.
Two men rallied their teammates from start to finish and proved their undoubted class.
One man ended up on the winning side. The other trudged off the pitch to the applause of friends, foes and a rapidly emptying stadium.
Beauden Barrett deserved to win. Jamie Heaslip did not deserve to lose.
Barrett was sensational. Irish fans that missed what he was up to before Chicago must have suspected the All Blacks were giving some raffle winner a run out at Soldier Field. For most of that 40-29 loss, Barrett was not at it. His kicking off the tee was poor, his passing was off and Ireland rattled him more than once.
There was one sublime offload for Ben Smith’s try. That’s what he is capable of.
He brought out that offload in Dublin and it helped set up Malakai Fekitoa’s game-winning try. That was just the cherry. His whole performance reeked of class. His cross-field kicks were on-point, his direct running exposed Ireland’s choke tackle tactics and he simply glid about the place.
Barrett beat Jamie Heaslip and four other top guys to World Rugby’s Player of the Year, last weekend. This loss will sting Heaslip more.
Ever since Ireland lost at Twickenham, earlier this year, Heaslip has been a player reborn. Tonight, he looked like that marauding, jinking, offloading No.8 that got us out of our Croke Park seats in 2009.
He made gains all night and put players through the tiny, narrow gaps the stingy All Blacks defence sometimes left ajar. One burst and offload almost had O’Brien home and dry but a Kiwi stopped him – Beauden Barrett.
Heaslip showed up everywhere – kick chases up either wing, racing back to retrieve clearances, one-off carries, support lines, first man, second man, third man to the ruck. If Ireland were doing something good on the pitch, Heaslip was invariably involved.
He only made three defensive hits but they all stuck. Ireland had the possession and territory but they did not make their chances count. The All Blacks did.
Two scores in it with four minutes to go, Ireland lost the ball forward and the All Blacks had a scrum in their 22. The home crowd sighed a hopeless exhalation.
“Come on guys, we can get this,” Heaslip urged.
He still believed and he kept believing until it was too late.
Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw, CJ Stander, Rob Kearney. All four picked up knocks and could miss next Saturday’s visit of Australia.
Not Heaslip. He’ll be there. 80 minutes plus some.
Aaron Kernan joins Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour to explain the work he’s doing for the Club Players Association. Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue talks Slaughtneil and a Dublin club advertising for hurlers gets a sore touch. Subscribe here on iTunes.
