“We trust our defence so much.”
Luke McGrath has explained why he kicked the ball back to New Zealand in dying minutes of Ireland’s historic victory on Saturday evening.
Joe Schmidt’s team beat the All Blacks for the first time on Irish soil, winning a dramatic game 16-9 at the Aviva Stadium.
Jacob Stockdale’s incredible try was the difference between the two teams. It was the first time in 20 years that New Zealand went try-less and were held to single figures in a Test match
Following the game, McGrath spoke about his box-kick 90-seconds before the final whistle.
The Leinster scrum-half kicked the ball for the two teams to contest. However, McGrath’s decision was a brave one.
In 2013, Ireland held onto the ball and run down the clock against the All Blacks, only to be penalised and go on to lose the tie in added time.
On Saturday night, McGrath took a risk, he backed his defence to see off the challenge of New Zealand and was rewarded.
“I knew it was a big box-kick,” McGrath told reporters.
“I had a look up at the clock and it was about 78-minutes, about two minutes to go.
“And you know, we trust our defence so much, so that if we do, it was just on me to put up a contestible kick and hopefully Jacob gets it back. Obviously, it’s a 50-50 battle up in the air.
“I think they won the scraps then and the next job we have to defend for that minute.
“I thought we defended quite well, (but) next thing you know, we’re on our 22. And you’re kinda like, ‘OK, we have to dig in deep here with all the lads’.
“Obviously, I’m delighted to see our defence win in the end and get that victory. I was concentrated a lot on that box-kick!”
