Share
26th October 2019
12:56pm BST
'I felt stink watching that. The whole place went quiet after 20 minutes. I slipped my jacket over my All Blacks jersey near the end. Almost embarrassed to be there. What happened to you guys? I thought you were good?'So did we, up until we ran into England. Twice. Back in November 2018, the last time many Kiwis were paying attention, we registered our second ever Test win over the ABs by manically fronting up in defence [remember that CJ Stander turnover and Devin Toner smashing Brodie Retallick?] and Jacob Stockdale unlocking them with a magic chip and chase.
In early February, talk in Ireland was about retaining the Six Nations title and - with England and France the home games - going for back-to-back Grand Slams. Were we to do that, we would go into the summer in peak form and confidence and as World No.1.
Such talk was parked quickly as England tore us asunder in Dublin in our opening fixture of the championship. We cobbled together three wins [decent ones away to the Scots and home to France] but Wales exposed us again. All of our brio had washed away.
When England walloped us 57-15 at Twickenham, in mid August, we were assured that it was because they were two weeks ahead of us in pre-season training. After watching the job England did on New Zealand in the World Cup semi final, that 45-point loss doesn't seem so shocking.
In Yokohama, in the semis, England did to New Zealand what they did to us. They started like demons and did not let up.
The Kiwis were turned over 19 times, they were dragged over the sidelines with ball-in-hand on six occasions, their lineout was disrupted and they could not get into the English 22 for long, long stretches. They conceded 11 penalties and, in possession, showed what happens when you recklessly offload rather than holding on and going through phases.
[caption id="attachment_207498" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
(Photo by Lynne Cameron/Getty Images)[/caption]
Reece and Bridge made sloppy errors and, all of a sudden, you were wondering why Steve Hansen was going into a semi final with two green Test match wingers. Why Hansen had dropped Sam Cane from his XV. Why Ryan Crotty and Rieko Ioane were nowhere to be seen. Why Owen Franks had been left at home.
Following his side's 19-7 victory, which could easily have been 33-7, Eddie Jones said:
"New Zealand are the god of rugby so we had to take it to them and put them on the back foot."England revelled in the challenge whereas Ireland made them look like gods. A third World Cup triumph in succession looked on the cards after last Saturday's quarter final but the England coaching team spotted flaws in their game. Their squad - driven on by Owen Farrell and young tyros Tom Curry, Sam Underhill and Maro Itoje - followed the game-plan of Jones, Steve Borthwick and John Mitchell to perfection. The All Blacks line-out was targeted, their ruck ball was slowed down and England's drift defence was spot on. More importantly, England showed real bite, and naked aggression, in defence and they did not sit back. Ireland beat New Zealand for the first time in 111 years, at Soldier Field, by taking the fight to them and scoring five tries in the process. It is a shame that we did not expand on that brave, expansive game-plan but we had fun along the way [the peak being the 2018 Grand Slam]. In 2004, Ireland went to Twickenham and beat world champions England to set in motion a period of dominance for green over white. On February 23, Andy Farrell will take his Ireland side to face England in the 2020 Guinness Six Nations. Getting a win over this English crew, at this remove, would be a miracle.
