“We’re building something special here.”
Teamed up with Garry Ringrose or Bundee Aki, it mattered not to Robbie Henshaw. Facing Quinn Tupaea, David Havili, Rieko Ioane or whoever else the All Blacks fancied, it was all the same. Henshaw was going to get after it.
The Leinster centre had another impactful performance in the Third Test against New Zealand, as Ireland won by 10 points and claimed a historic, first-ever series win there.
For all the moments when it felt Ireland were building something, the well-worked and merciless Henshaw try – his team’s third – was the one that got most fans giddy. The mighty All Blacks were being clinically picked apart.
This has to be one of Ireland's greatest tries. So well thought out. Isolating New Zealand All Blacks front row AGAIN. Poor D structure.
Great team try. Sheehan's pass is brilliant #NZLvIRE #NZvIRE pic.twitter.com/S4dIHxmPm0— Brett Igoe (@brettruganalyst) July 16, 2022
Robbie Henshaw’s post-match admission
New Zealand did roar back, but Ireland rallied with a Rob Herring try and a stunning stack of big Tadhg Beirne defensive moments. They won 32-22 and history was made.
Following the game, an ecstatic Robbie Henshaw spoke of what victory meant and a scant lack of on-field training time, which really outs the Irish series-winning achievement in perspective.
“That was a hell of a Test match,” he said.”It had everything.
“We came out of the blocks again and knew they would be coming for us in the second half. Backs to the wall, to go two scores down in the second half, come back and get a couple of scores of our own, it just goes to show the character of the squad and what we’re building here. It’s something special.
“Sometimes it’s a common thread with teams, where you go and do something special,” he added. “Then the challenge is to go and do it again; back it up and go further.
“It was one of those weeks were the coaches looked after us. We were kept fresh for this game. We only trained once, then rocked into it. And we knew what we had to do, as we were looked after well. To go that step further from last week, we knew that we could.”
"What we're building here is something special…."
Hear from Robbie Henshaw at full-time in Wellington ⬇️#TeamOfUs | #NZvIRE pic.twitter.com/1qqwzzMfcL
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) July 16, 2022
One on-field training session to get all the set-plays and attacking and defensive tactics in place, with a fired-up All Blacks side coming hell-bent towards them in Wellington.
After a long, gruelling season, to lean back on all the squad had been through and learned, and back each other up, is some going.
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