Kiwis Show Irish How It's Done

"When they scored the third try there was potential for us to capitulate and allow them to cross the whitewash time and time again," he added.

"But we stood under the posts and said we wouldn't let that happen, not at Croke Park. We battled hard for the full 80 minutes and contained them."

Ireland coach Declan Kidney wouldn't be drawn on the Bowe controversy and the subsequent penalty try.

"I didn't see the penalty try but there were enough people looking at it," he said. "New Zealand played very well and won the field position battles by a big way.

"Most of the game was played inside our half. You can only defend for so long and they took their opportunities. There were two or three more they might have scored."

New Zealand coach Graham Henry had no problems as he declared that South African referee Mark Lawrence had made the correct decision in awarding the penalty try.

"That's the law - the referee just applied the rule. It was good for us at the time," he said. "Any try just before halftime has an influence on the game.

"We're pleased with the result. The guys played well and we dominated the game most of the time. We played with tempo but were frustrated that we created chances that we didn't finish. A couple of tries went begging.

"Our defense was excellent, the best of the tour so far. We got a lot of turnover ball. Ireland played as well as they were allowed to. I imagine they went out with a more expansive game plan.

"Brian O'Driscoll and Luke Fitzgerald played well, they cut us up in midfield a couple of times, but our cover defense was good."

New Ireland scrum-half Tomas O'Leary has called for an improvement from his teammates, with the Argentina game on Saturday rounding off the autumn series.

"I don't think anyone could be satisfied with the performance against the All Blacks," said O'Leary after his second cap.

"We didn't play any rugby and we have to learn what went wrong in time for Argentina, which has become a massive game now.

"I'm disappointed, because I felt like we prepared well against New Zealand. I definitely expected more from us - we're capable of much better.

"That's a positive for the future. But it's no good talking about how good we are or about potential. We need to produce."

Ireland: G. Dempsey; T. Bowe, B. O'Driscoll, L. Fitzgerald, R Kearney; R. O'Gara. T. O'Leary; M. Horan, R. Best, J. Hayes, D. O'Callaghan, P. O'Connell, A. Quinlan, D. Wallace, J. Heaslip.

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Nster.com