Green fingers drop golden opportunity

Andrew Trimble launches skyward to contest the ball. Sandra Mu / Getty Images.

Supposedly the Irish are lucky. God help anyone who reminds Brian O'Driscoll of that myth this morning - they'll find his eyes won't be smiling.

And for good reason, too. Ireland had the All Blacks on the ropes for most of the game. They turned the home side's lineout into an unseemly mess, won the turnover count and caused a previously unseen defensive panic by doing nothing more than timing their passes and running into space and speed.

When it came to clinching the deal, though, they stared into the face of history and froze.

The thought of becoming the first Irish side to defeat the All Blacks overwhelmed them and they became yet another side to trudge down the tunnel as nothing more than plucky losers.

A well-judged kick by Peter Stringer with five minutes remaining was inches from landing in Shane Horgan's eager mitts and putting him clear to score the winner. Instead it sat up for Ma'a Nonu and he popped up to the supporting Troy Flavell.

The emptiness the Irish felt was matched by that of their opponents. The first 60 minutes would have had the rugby world watching in relief - there is a fallibility about this All Black side that no one thought existed. Just like every other team, they get a little ragged when put under pressure.

They got especially ragged at the lineout without a genuine third jumper. Forwards coach Steve Hansen was uneasy before the game at the cost of experimenting with both Richie McCaw and Marty Holah on from the start.

He liked having so much firepower at the breakdown but the lineout was a worry. He was right. The Irish caused huge disruption and it came as no surprise to see Holah make way for Jerome Kaino shortly after halftime.

The early arrival of Kaino suggests that the experiment of playing two opensides may be shelved for now and, unfortunately for Holah, the game never really opened up enough for his undoubted poaching skills to flourish.

But the rejoicing at the All Blacks' vulnerability shouldn't be unbridled. They did, after all, win the game. There was no capitulation. After 60 minutes they were taking control of possession at the set piece and driving it tighter round the fringes.

There was evidence of onfield thinking. McCaw was vocal, obviously making the point that simple rugby was the way to go.

The legions of dummy runners in front of the pass dried up. Which has to be a good thing as the Irish had a strong case to make that they were constantly being obstructed.

Referee Stuart Dickinson was happy to let it go last night, but come the World Cup, the Poms will start whingeing and referees will start listening.

The volume of traffic in the midfield seemed to prey on the mind of Nonu and distract him.

If Nonu has a future at test level then it is not at centre. For every thrilling line-break there is a duff pass or a dropped ball. It makes him an uneasy player to watch. When he has the ball it's a bit like dipping your hand into a box filled with snakes and gold bars - the only certainty is that the return will be memorable, most likely for all the wrong reasons.

The selectors could persevere with him, hoping that inch-by-inch he learns his craft and becomes the player he sporadically threatens to be. But that seems to be a huge risk as there is little prospect of the Nonu project being completed by September next year.

Proof of that came when he got caught watching the dummy runner in the build up to O'Driscoll's try.

His instincts should have told him that the Irish captain was the strike runner and that if Andrew Trimble had indeed taken possession, he was the property of Aaron Mauger.

Nonu's defensive frailty has been an issue since the last World Cup and maybe the time has come to think harder about playing him on the wing, where he is less exposed and better able to pick and chose where he joins the point of attack.

He and Mauger didn't form an aggressive threat in the midfield and the absence of Tana Umaga was acutely felt.

When the selectors start getting serious about their first-choice team - if they still have such a thing - the solution screamed out last night. Mils Muliaina looks more and more like a centre and Leon MacDonald is too good a player to leave out.