A dejected All Blacks captain Sam Cane. Photo / Photosport
A dejected All Blacks captain Sam Cane. Photo / Photosport
With the series lost Sam Cane knows that the pressure is piling on, the calls for heads are increasing and the doubts about this All Blacks side are spreading.
But he also knows that from adversity can spring a revival and the hurt stored in his and his teammates' systemis intense – the sort of deep pain that can be used to drive the All Blacks out of the dark hole in which they are in.
For him, the key thing now is to ensure that the All Blacks review the series, suck up all they got wrong, dwell a little on what they got right and then harness the emotional pain to come storming back.
"The only good thing about this is that we can use it as fuel to get better," said Cane. "If we don't the whole series will be wasted. We have to pick ourselves up and go forward.
"We had a lot of confidence coming into the game because of the hard work we did during the week. But it was too inconsistent out there. When we go back-to-back doing good stuff, we look flash but too many times we are not backing those up."
Cane's view was backed up by Dane Coles, the veteran hooker famously good at giving succinct, non-sugar-coated versions of the truth.
His take was simple. "We lost the series and played poorly," he said. When asked what the All Blacks had to do to turn things around, he was equally direct.
"A win would be nice but the only guys who can fix that are the guys in the [changing] room. We will put our heads together and try to come up with some solution and be a lot better because it is not good enough at the moment."
Sam Cane and Aaron Smith of the All Blacks. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
His frustration, much like Cane's, was largely built on the way the team started. The All Blacks were down 22-3 at halftime and failed to offer any kind of attack game.
It was only in the second half that they came to life, finding a rhythm and some creativity. The disappointment was intensified by the fact that the All Blacks have made starting each test well a high priority – but failed to do in all three.
In each of the three games, Ireland scored a try in the first five minutes and in the second and third tests, they were able to push on hard enough and far enough to really damage the All Blacks.
"A big part of our week is focused on starting well but we seemed to lack energy," said Coles.
"We have got to be better and come up with better solutions. It felt like that [World Cup] semifinal loss in the changing room.
All Blacks All Blacks first five-eighths Beauden Barrett makes a break between Ireland fist five-eighths Jonathan Sexton and lock Tadhg Beirne. Photo / Mark Mitchell.
"You always go through emotions. Right now it is like it is the end of the world. And tomorrow there is a process you go through. We go home and that might be worse because we want to get on with it. We have got to stick together to get solutions and be better as a team."
Ardie Savea, New Zealand's best player, was equally distraught and honest about the performance, branding it not good enough and nowhere near the standards the team had set for itself.
"We are pretty disappointed," he said. "But we have to hand it to the Irish, they are a quality team. It was just about having pride in the black jersey. But we dropped the ball. We gave the ball back in our own half and we have to find a way to be better."
