Rugby: Pace of All Black attack from turnovers leaves Irish behind

Julian Savea scored a hat-trick on debut. Photo / Greg Bowker

Former All Black coach Charlie Saxton delivered sermons about possession, position and pace as the pillars of the sport.

He preached those ideas many decades ago but the messages remain just as relevant in the modern game.

Ireland have made reasonable inroads with two of the concepts but seem lost against the speed of the game played by the All Blacks.

In a sport where turnovers have become a highly-valued commodity, pace becomes so vital in using that possession to maximum effect.

It is also the weapon of choice in phase-play, when defenders start to get strung out mentally and physically as they try to number up against the attacking side.

Julian Savea's cuts and Israel Dagg's slicing runs became great artillery as the All Blacks outflanked the Irish.

It seemed they were a metre shy of coping, away from the closer contests at the rucks, mauls and set-piece.

When possession started to zip around the pitch the Irish seemed to be caught for pace and protection.

Combating some of those issues were themes for the Irish yesterday as they reviewed their test work and talked through their hopes for Saturday's second showdown in Christchurch.

Lock Donnacha Ryan spoke about Ireland's desire to up their pace this week and communicate better on defence to cut down the All Blacks' space.

"Test matches are played at 100 miles an hour against the world champions and concentration has to be at a premium," he said.

The Irish also needed to treasure possession. By their reckoning, they had turned it over five times in the All Blacks' 22 and committed another eight unforced turnovers in their half.

"We have got to be smarter, particularly playing against New Zealand. We can't afford to turn over the ball so easily," Ryan said.

Ireland will also be hoping their luck changes with injuries damaging their front-row resources.

They have not called for any front-row replacements but utility back Gavin Duffy should arrive tomorrow to cover for Keith Earls, who has torn a chest muscle.

Loosehead prop Cian Healey is rated a 50-50 chance for the test because of right shoulder damage, tighthead Declan Fitzpatrick remains a concern with a gluteus muscle strain, but Mike Ross has trained well and should be fit.

The problem calling for backup is the lack of choice because of the overseas props on the clubs' rosters.

Leinster have Heinke van der Meuwe and Nathan White, Munster use Wian du Preez and BJ Botha, while Ulster have John Afoa as well as Peter Borlase.

The All Blacks have declared Crusaders star Kieran Read fit after his head knock but were waiting for an update on Victor Vito, who suffered a medial knee ligament strain.

Any changes to the All Blacks are likely to be restricted because the coaching staff want to build the players' combinations with continuity. Both teams would have detail to ingest from the opening test and will be better for their second meeting.

"For us, we're just worrying about ourselves, we certainly know there's a lot of areas we could be better," assistant coach Ian Foster said.

"We certainly left a few opportunities on the park, maybe with a little lack of understanding of a few things and we'll just tweak them this week."

Ireland will visit the red zone in Christchurch tomorrow and meet a number of people who were affected by the earthquakes.

This will be the All Blacks' first test in the city since they beat the Wallabies 20-10, two years ago.