Ireland players celebrate their 29-20 victory over New Zealand in the international rugby union match between Ireland and New Zealand, at the Aviva Stadium. Photo / AP
Ireland players celebrate their 29-20 victory over New Zealand in the international rugby union match between Ireland and New Zealand, at the Aviva Stadium. Photo / AP
How the world media reacted to Ireland's 29-20 win over the All Blacks in Dublin.
"Instead, they preferred to soak in an Irish performance of utterly unrelenting intensity and equal bravery in its ambition, not to mention an at times astonishing defensive display by the All Blacks.
"For the vast majority of the 80 minutes, Ireland attacked with the ball in hand as if their lives depended on it, and the All Blacks defended their line as if their lives depended on it, even though they've been away from home since August.
"So after waiting over a century and 28 meetings over the team that Ireland seemed incapable of beating, Ireland recorded a third win in the last five meetings.
"This had echoes of both Chicago and three years ago, and might possibly have been the best of the three performances. In any event, no less than those two, this was completely deserved."
Ireland players celebrate their 29-20 victory over New Zealand in the international rugby union match between Ireland and New Zealand, at the Aviva Stadium. Photo / AP
Player ratings - Irish edition
John O'Sullivan did the player ratings for the Irish Times and while Ireland received a full compliment of 8s and 9s out of 10, the reading wasn't so pleasant for the All Blacks.
"Anton Leinert-Brown, Sevu Reece, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara, Ethan Blackadder, Brodie Retallick, Nepo Laulala, Codie Taylor, and Joe Moody all scored 5/10, while coach Ian Foster picked up the lowest rating of 4/10.
"Coach Ian Foster - New Zealand were vastly outplayed for Ireland and rarely got into the game. Their scores came from individual efforts but no sustained pressure. Rating: 4"
Ireland players celebrate their 29-20 victory over New Zealand in the international rugby union match between Ireland and New Zealand. Photo / AP
A giddy thought
Brendan O'Brien, Irish Examiner
"The beauty of this Irish performance was that some big moments continued to go against them. This was by no means perfect but they stuck at it with an indomitable will and a stubborn refusal to let it go the way of the 'Ryan Crotty game' in 2013.
"They deserved to win this. They earned this. But they still had to win it.
"Strip it all down to the bare bones, as Farrell & Co. will do in the debrief, and this is a game that they could and maybe should have won by more and with a greater degree of comfort, if such a thing is possible against the All Blacks.
"It's a giddy thought. A third win in five years against the game's best and still plenty of 'work ons' to go with it."
Ireland players celebrate their 29-20 victory over New Zealand in the international rugby union match between Ireland and New Zealand, at the Aviva Stadium. Photo / AP
"It was a second successive victory at home against the No 1 ranked team in the world, Ireland's third in five games against the three-time world champions, and entirely deserved for a performance bristling with intent and ambition.
"New Zealand, who are at the end of a long season and tour, lost fly-half Beauden Barrett to injury in the first half and looked tired, making uncharacteristic handling errors throughout.
"But no one could say Ireland did not deserve a victory which will give them huge belief that they are building something special under Farrell. "
Social media reaction
Thoroughly deserved victory for Ireland. Forced the All Blacks to make 137 more tackles (238 total) and reduced the visitors to scraps of ball. Dublin will be rocking, and rightly so.
What a brilliant game of rugby! Commiserations to the mighty @AllBlacks but congratulations on a phenomenal performance by @IrishRugby! 👏 W
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) November 13, 2021
Never in all my years have I seen an Ireland team display such collective skill and remorseless intensity. So good that the @AllBlacks were lucky they didn’t lose by more. Truly epic. @IrishRugby have now beaten them three times in 5 years. Wales haven’t beaten them in 68.
"There's certainly a desire from Ireland to play with a little bit more ambition... that was the best Ireland performance I've been involved in" says Ian Foster of Ireland
AB fans, whilst it may be of small comfort, any other side in the world would have lost by 25 points to an Irish side playing like that. And besides it's cricket season and the Black Caps are going to win another World Cup tomorrow morning. 👍
"There's some temptation to go glass half full after the All Blacks loss in Dublin, their third to Ireland in the last six tests and believe that the depth of character they showed to stay in the fight and keep it alive for as long as they did is a portent of better things to come.
"But there's a much greater need to resist that temptation and question whether rugby in New Zealand is so gripped by a pass and catch culture that it has genuinely lost touch of what test rugby is all about.
"There is reason to be worried that the All Blacks no longer have the ante to play at the same table as the likes of Ireland, England and South Africa and are no closer to finding the muscularity they need than they were when they began searching for it four years ago.
"Defeat puts the All Blacks' season into immediate context with their second loss, the first against the Springboks, revealing familiar flaws for Ian Foster's men, particularly up front where they were again second in the physicality stakes.
"Ireland's dominance forced the All Blacks live off scraps, reducing the visitors to 39 per cent possession and 33 per cent territory.
"With France in Paris to come next week these two tests were always going to provide insight as to where this All Blacks team sits at present. They, clearly, have significant work to do."
How the Irish media reacted to the NZ media reaction:
NZ verdict: Losing to Ireland is becoming habitual. We can't match them for sheer physical impact and muscularity https://t.co/uhuYR2seKL
