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**dudeabides** · 06-08-2010, 06:36 PM

Ireland able to rewrite history?

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There's an All Black monkey on Ireland's back. The 2009 Six Nations champions have faced New Zealand on 22 occasions and the closest they have come to victory remains a 10-10 draw at Lansdowne Road in 1973. It is a statistic that Declan Kidney's team will be hopeful of consigning to the history books when they travel to New Plymouth on Saturday and they have reason for optimism.

Ireland's backline looks as competitive as any in world rugby and is awash with experience. Veteran Ronan O'Gara will once again the shots from fly-half in what will be his 99th test appearance and he will have a familiar face inside him, Munster team-mate Thomas O'Leary winning the battle for the No.9 jersey with Eoin Reddan on the bench.

The familiarity in the Irish back backs continues in the centre as Leinster team-mates Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, once the most feared centre pairing in European rugby, renew their partnership. Tommy Bowe and Andrew Trimble have pace to burn out wide while also being solid in defence and Leinster fullback Rob Kearney boasts one of the safest pairs of hands under the high ball in world rugby. Rest assured, the boot of Dan Carter will test his nerve.

Unlike his counterpart, All Blacks coach Graham Henry has opted for the exuberance of youth in naming two new caps in his backline due to a hellish injury list. Highlanders fullback Israel Dagg and Blues centre Benson Stanley win their first Test caps. Dagg, who was set to choose cricket as his preferred career only five years ago after a career chat with Brett Lee, will be facing high balls instead of yorkers as reward for a superb Super 14 season at fullback. Cory Jane remains on one wing and Joe Rokocoko is recalled on the other. Stanley joins Conrad Smith in the midfield while Carter and Jimmy Cowan are retained as the starting halfback duo.

For the Ireland backs to unleash their undoubted talent against an untested All Black line requires an immense effort from their forwards to gain parity and therein lies the problem. The Crusaders-filled New Zealand pack is, on paper, a formidable unit and one that could starve Ireland of quality ball. It is unsurprisingly an area coach Henry expects his side to dominate, with prop brothers Ben and Owen Franks making history as the first pair of siblings to play for the All Blacks since Robin and Zinzan Brooke in 1997.

"The Crusaders scrum was probably the best in the Super 14, I know they had Brad Thorn behind them, which is always helpful, but that's been picked on form," said Henry. "They've shown the way there and it's a good indicator for the other front row guys, that standard which needs to be reached."

It is against this seemingly formidable force that Connacht duo John Muldoon and Sean Cronin will play by far the biggest game in their young Test careers. Muldoon, the standout performer in Ireland's narrow defeat to the Baa Baas, starts in place of the injured and hugely influential Stephen Ferris at blindside while third-choice hooker Cronin deputises for Jerry Flannery and Rory Best. And Ireland will have to enter the Lion's den without second row talisman Paul O'Connell, Mick O'Driscoll stepping in to partner Donncha O'Callaghan.

It does seem a tall order given the key absentees in the pack. But all does not appear totally rosy in the All Black garden and Ireland can grab some crumbs of comfort that Henry is already voicing his concerns that the northern hemisphere referees may not be able to keep up with the law interpretations present in the Super 14.

Henry's side is set for a reunion with England's Wayne Barnes, the official blamed in certain quarters for the All Blacks' exit at the 2007 Rugby World Cup at the hands of France. And Henry is obviously concerned it may happen again.

"I always speak to the referee, but whether it makes a difference is very debatable," said Henry. "I've tried to love them, I've tried to kick them, I've tried to ignore them, and nothing's worked. It's going to be a challenge for the northern hemisphere referees because in the European Cup they didn't play to these rules. But in their own competitions they may have. They know what rules we are playing to and hopefully they can handle it."

So do Ireland's chances of a first ever win against New Zealand really rest with an English referee? The answer will depend on whether the Ireland pack can gain parity and secure quality ball for O'Leary and O'Gara to work with and for the team keep disciplined enough to starve that man Carter of scoring opportunities. Otherwise, Mr. Barnes, it's over to you.

New Zealand: I Dagg (Highlanders); C Jane (Hurricanes), C Smith (Hurricanes), B Stanley (Blues), J Rokocoko (Blues); D Carter (Crusaders), J Cowan (Highlanders); B Franks (Crusaders), K Mealamu (Blues), O Franks (Crusaders), B Thorn (Crusaders), A Boric (Blues), J Kaino (Blues), R McCaw (Crusaders, capt), K Read (Crusaders).

Replacements: A de Malmanche (Chiefs), N Tialata (Hurricanes), S Whitelock (Crusaders), V Vito (Hurricanes), P Weepu (Hurricanes), A Cruden (Hurricanes), Z Guildford (Crusaders)

Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), A Trimble (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), T O'Leary (Munster); C Healy (Leinster), S Cronin (Connacht), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), J Muldoon (Connacht), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).

Replacements: J Fogarty (Leinster), T Buckley (Munster), D Tuohy (Ulster), S Jennings (Leinster), E Reddan (Leinster), J Sexton (Leinster), G Murphy (Leicester)

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Mark Lawrence (South Africa), James Leckie (Australia)
Television match official: George Ayoub (Australia)

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**dudeabides** · 06-12-2010, 06:11 AM

Not exactly...

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A red card for No.8 Jamie Heaslip wrecked Ireland's hopes of a first win over New Zealand, with the All Blacks powering to a 66-28 victory in New Plymouth on Saturday.

Heaslip was given his marching orders by referee Wayne Barnes on 15 minutes after aiming a knee to the head of All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw at a ruck. In his absence the home side ran wild, scoring nine tries to secure their record points total against Ireland. Scrum-half Jimmy Cowan, centre Conrad Smith and debutant lock Sam Whitelock all bagged braces while prop Ben Franks, No.8 Kieran Read and Neemia Tialata also breached the Irish defence.

With his haul of seven conversions and a penalty, Dan Carter became the fourth player to break the 1,000 points barrier in Tests, following Neil Jenkins, Diego Dominguez and Jonny Wlkinson into the record books. While the wind was knocked from Ireland's sails with Heaslip's moment of madness, and a later yellow for fly-half Ronan O'Gara, they showed plenty of fight to score four tries of their own, through Dan Tuohy, Brian O'Driscoll, Tommy Bowe and Gordon D'Arcy.

The hot topic for the coaches this week had been the breakdown and Barnes wasted no time in penalising the first player to leave his feet, All Blacks No.8 Read. O'Gara smacked a horrible penalty into the arms of debutant fullback Israel Dagg and his mistake was punished with a scything break from the ever-impressive Cory Jane. Tony Buckley, in as a late replacement for the ill John Hayes, hammered the supporting McCaw but Ireland were pinged on the floor.

Carter made no mistake from the tee and Ireland were caught with a suckerpunch when a knock-on from hooker Sean Cronin resulted in a try to Smith at the other end. Carter snaffled possession and put Smith into a half gap, with the Hurricanes centre chipping ahead. Rob Kearney's usually watertight defence disappeared and he kneed the ball across the try-line for Smith to dot down. Carter converted from in front.

With a strong break from D'Arcy having taken them to within inches of the All Blacks' tryline, Heaslip aimed two brutal shots to the head of McCaw, leaving Barnes with no option but to produce red. Waves of New Zealand attack followed, spearheaded by the increasingly influential Dagg. His outside break put Joe Rokocoko into space and after the lightning wing had bumped off Kearney's tackle, quick ball recycling allowed Read to power over out wide. Carter lined up the conversion and helped himself to a place in the history books.

Ireland were rocked to their core, but could offer only further ammo to their rampant hosts. O'Gara was shown yellow for a cynical early tackle as Jane raced after his own kick ahead, and with the fly-half in the sin-bin, the game swiftly took on the complexion of a Greek tragedy for Irish fans. The All Blacks went after their wounded prey from every angle, with Franks powering through some helpless cover tackles to score his first Test try.

Dagg's dream bow continued as he set up another score in double quick time. His show and go took two Irish defenders out of the game and with Cowan on his shoulder there was a simple run in for the scrum-half. The Highlanders skipper was celebrating his second a matter of minutes later after Carter had shown his class with ball in hand. The fly-half collected a loose ball and fixed lock Mick O'Driscoll, accelerating through the gap with ease. Read provided support out wide and his basketball pass set Brad Thorn hurtling for the line. The veteran lock popped a pass over the head of the final cover defender for Cowan to slide in.

With Irish players out on their feet, and flanker John Muldoon off with a suspected broken arm, O'Driscoll's replacement Tuohy provided a small respite by plucking the ball from an attacking ruck inside the All Black 22 and racing clear to score out wide. Half-time came and went with little solace for Ireland, but their efforts after the restart showed renewed vigour.

Kearney used his pace from deep and the visitors were finally able to edge their way up field with Andrew Trimble's strong running paying off. One sloppy pass undid all of their graft though. Carter picked up after a knock on, spiralling a pass to Jane, who had the gas to take Tuohy on the outside. Having thrown a couple of dummies to O'Gara he fired the easiest of passes inside to his Wellington team-mate Smith, who rounded off his double.

Then, Crusaders lock Whitelock trotted onto the field for his debut and seconds later scored his first Test try. The Irish scrum, pegged as a weakness in the build-up, was the basis as Piri Weepu broke from a quick-tap. The replacement scrum-half, on for Cowan, delayed his pass to set Anthony Boric galloping into space and after taking a return pass found a scoring offload for the rangy Whitleock to go in unopposed.

O'Driscoll's 40th Test try followed good offloading by D'Arcy and Buckley, with the skipper carrying two tacklers across the line with him. The All Blacks' confidence remained sky high though, ironically contributing to Ireland's third. Having secured a turnover in the shadow of their posts, McCaw's casual offload bounced off Bowe's fingertips and the winger was able to collect and dive over under the posts.

Ireland continued to attack with great heart with ball in hand, but in defence they remained vulnerable. A dart from replacement Aaron Cruden took the All Blacks close and after Barnes had penalised Ireland on the floor more quick thinking from Weepu sent Tialata powering across the whitewash.

D'Arcy rounded off another promising Irish move as the home side's intensity dropped again, but there was one more moment of misery for the tourists as Whitelock was able to hold off Bowe to score his second and complete a night that will not be swiftly forgotten.

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