All Blacks v Ireland: World media reacts as Eden Park streak continues with dominant win

How the world’s media reacted to the All Blacks 40-21 victory over Ireland at Eden Park.

‘Missed opportunity’ for Ireland

Christy Doran, Irish Examiner

Ireland went to Auckland looking to become the first international side in 32 years to beat the All Blacks at Eden Park, but their hopes of entering the history books were effectively over by halftime after an error-strewn first half.

While Ireland never went away and fought gallantly to the death, the All Blacks never looked like losing and won 40-21. The 19-point win extended their winning run at the Garden of Eden to 53 Tests.

It was a pressure-relieving moment for new coach Dave Rennie, who controversially replaced Scott Robertson earlier in the year but has now won three straight matches to start the Nations Championship stunningly.

For Rennie’s counterpart Andy Farrell it was a missed opportunity, a night of frustration, and their first loss in the Nations Championship after wins against Australia and Japan.

The world-renowned coach didn’t shy away from aiming high and craving a place in history throughout the week, but 13 turnovers in the first half, which allowed the All Blacks to run out to a 28-7 lead, effectively killed off that hope after 40 minutes.

All Blacks ‘dominated in all areas’

Patrick Snowden, L’Equipe

In the opening of this third day of the Nations Championship, New Zealand easily won this Saturday morning (40-21) at Eden Park in Auckland against an Irish team dominated in all areas of the game.

For the All Blacks, this third Nations Championship match against Ireland was a real test.

Having won their first two matches against France (34-32) and Italy (47-17), Dave Rennie’s players were expected to perform, particularly in defence, against the power of the Irish, who were also undefeated until then after their victories against Australia (31-33) and Japan (36-20).

Upon arrival, the New Zealanders remained undefeated in the competition and gave Ireland, outclassed and dominated in every aspect of the game, no chance.

Auckland’s Eden Park thus remains an unassailable fortress since 1994 and Jean-Luc Sadourny’s try from the “end of the world”, which secured victory for France.

It wasn’t until the quarter-hour mark that the game finally opened up, with a try from Patrick Tuipulotu on the All Blacks’ first real foray into the Irish 22.

Until then, the Irish defence had been aggressive, quickly rushing up to block the opposition’s attacks and dominating in the rucks. But Ireland’s attacking play was too imprecise to trouble the All Blacks.

‘Punishing evening’ for Ireland

Edward Elliot, the Independent

Ireland suffered a crushing 40-21 defeat as New Zealand stretched their remarkable unbeaten run at Eden Park to 53 Test matches in round three of the inaugural Nations Championship.

Following unconvincing bonus-point wins over Australia and Japan, Andy Farrell’s side were bidding to complete a clean sweep of the Southern Hemisphere series.

But they were outclassed on a punishing evening in Auckland as first-half tries from Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea, Will Jordan and Asafo Aumua put the All Blacks in control.

Jack Conan claimed Ireland’s only score of the opening period after New Zealand flanker Luke Jacobson escaped with just a yellow card for a dangerous clearout on Josh van der Flier, while Joe McCarthy and Hugo Keenan went over in the second half.

Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown added further scores for New Zealand and fly-half Ruben Love kicked five conversions as they maintained their perfect start to the competition following victories over France and Italy.

‘Never in doubt’

Charles Richardson, the Telegraph

New Zealand’s staggering Eden Park record, and their unbeaten streak under new head coach Dave Rennie, remains unblemished.

Ireland were the latest challengers at the spiritual home of the All Blacks in Auckland – the last loss was 32 years ago – but, at the end of a long season, the visitors were outclassed in virtually all areas.

As ever with Ireland, there was no lack of fight, but this spirited, limited performance was flattered by the scoreboard. Andy Farrell’s side had their moments but the result was never in doubt; Ireland were barely ever within a score and their six-match unbeaten run is over.

New Zealand have somewhat of a stranglehold over Ireland, with the All Blacks having now won their past four meetings and with the Irish not having won since 2022 in Wellington.

At Eden Park on Saturday, the chasm between the two sides looked as wide as it ever has under Andy Farrell, as New Zealand clinched a first-half bonus point to finish the Southern Hemisphere leg of the Nations Championship with a perfect 15 points from three matches.

Ireland left with nothing.

All Blacks ‘ruthless, clinical on attack’

Angus Opperman, Rugby365

New Zealand extended their unbeaten run at Eden Park to 53 matches following a convincing 40-21 win in Round Three of the Nations Championship.

New Zealand were ruthless and, for the most part, clinical on attack to outscore Andy Farrell’s men by six tries to three.

The result sees Ireland losing their unbeaten run in the tournament, while New Zealand made it three wins from as many games.

Ireland created several scoring opportunities, but poor handling and execution proved to be their downfall on the day. Ireland missed 22 first-half tackles, which ultimately contributed to New Zealand’s big lead at the break.

Ruben Love kept his team on the front foot on attack and seems like the real deal to lock in the All Black No 10 jersey for the foreseeable future. He nailed all his conversion kicks and showed real maturity in his young test career.

‘Brutal and beautiful’

Liam Napier, NZ Herald

Dave Rennie’s All Blacks have unveiled their brutal and beautiful blueprint.

With a potent, sweet spot blend of speed, power and relentless physicality, the All Blacks ground Ireland into the Eden Park turf to add a 53rd successive notch on the belt at their favoured fortress.

The first two victories of Rennie’s All Blacks era against France and Italy offered cautious promise of vast improvements. Understandably, given the compressed timeframe, so too were patchy, scratchy elements evident.

Returning to their spiritual Auckland home, Rennie remodelled the All Blacks forward pack to inject serious size and power by starting Patrick Tuipulotu and switching Tupou Vaa’i to blindside flanker. Both selections brought immediate rewards.

Tuipulotu delivered a relentless, direct, powerful presence in the middle of the park while Vaa’i caused havoc roaming the edges with his long limbs.

Week three allowed the All Blacks to refine their attacking approach. The core of their philosophy to retain the ball, harness speed and chase the width with sweeping backdoor plays remained prevalent.