With the scores locked at 19-19, the resulting long-range penalty kick from Jonathan Sexton would have edged Ireland in front. Instead the attempt fell short and it was third time lucky for Dan Carter, who sealed it with a drop goal with only 30 seconds remaining.
Apart from Dagg's yellow card, his first, it was a difficult night for him and his fellow All Blacks backs. In the first test in Auckland Dagg was in sublime form and counter-attacked at will as the All Blacks put on five tries. At AMI Stadium last (Sat) night, opportunities were extremely limited in the freezing conditions.
"Basically the only ball we got was kicked to us and they kicked well and put us under pressure," he said.
"We didn't play well. It was a tough night, a few of our forwards are a bit battered and bruised.
"Their forwards played well, they attacked our set piece and their one-off runners were effective. I thought Brian O'Driscoll played well, he was running straight and hard and putting the boys under a bit of pressure.
"We just made too many errors in our own half and put ourselves under pressure. The Irish took advantage of that."
APNZ pm lb
