When someone like Peter O’Mahony sheds a tear, something very important is happening. Seconds later, Joey Carberry kicks to the sideline and the final whistle unleashes the ferocious striker. Ireland have won a series in New Zealand, a milestone not achieved since 1994. “It’s the hardest thing in the world of rugby,” their coach Andy Farrell said after a win. It catapulted his wards to the top spot in the world rankings and overwhelmed the superpower Oval A year before the World Cup in a sea of doubt.
The calendar brings the two hemispheres of rugby together twice a year. Between June and July, those from the north play a series, usually three games, at the home of a southern power. The host changes every year, so the chance to play in New Zealand, the great cathedral, doesn’t come around often. In November, the Northern Powers visit the North, but face one rival each week. The series is rugby’s romantic legacy, building on its history since the World Cup was its most recent creation (1987).
The statistics back up Farrell’s statement: Beat the All Blacks Another dimension of his fief is a challenge. After a good first half, Ireland fell flat (42-19) in the first game of the series. Normal. France last won a Northern Hemisphere tournament in New Zealand in 2009. England won the competition in 2003 and the British & Irish Lions – Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh – in 2017. No one has captured the series so far this century. France was the last to do so. A two game winner with a famous rehearsal of the World Finals in 1994.
Ireland, has signed on for rugby’s most prestigious side, struggling to make it past the quarter-finals of World Cups. It wasn’t until 2016, in Chicago, that they achieved their first win against New Zealand, making it thirty matches between the two teams since 1905. In 2018, they won in Dublin and ousted the All Blacks from the top spot in the table. Last week, at the Greenhouse in Dunedin, they got their first win on New Zealand soil, which helped level the series. The result was green in Wellington. Two wins against the All Blacks in two weeks.
Ireland sealed their victory this Saturday with a terrific first half (3-22). It is a case of New Zealand being so territorially dominated that they are unable to respond to the attack. Caged Cats The All Blacks turned their rush with precision and seemed outnumbered in any decisive game. The XV of ClubsFeaturing New Zealand players who never made it into the national elite’s plans, such as Bundy Aki or James Lowe, they delivered total rugby, accelerating the game with their electric charges of attack.
Despite the correction, the New Zealander returned from the locker room like a wounded animal and his streak allowed him to return to a match that others could offer. Ardi Xavia, the most dynamic striker imaginable, led his pack and Will Jordan’s mile-long streak brought the hosts within three points with 20 minutes to play. Irish didn’t panic and rehearsed with them Mall, a floor they shone like few others, and held a ten-point lead as the All Blacks attacked in earnest. In that superior defense, Tadgh Bernie crushed three local attacks in a row, fishing the oval in the winning zone, a record.
The win adds luster to already sold-out races, such as captain Johnny Sexton’s reminiscence of “four million Irish people eating pints for breakfast” or O’Mahony’s cult of effort: “It’s something I never thought possible as a kid. But now the youth who have seen it from home know that it can be done,” he said. It took Ireland 111 years to defeat New Zealand, but they have won five of their last eight meetings. It deserves a few tears.
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