All Blacks v Ireland second test Stat Attack

• By Peter Marriott

The All Blacks were defeated by Ireland in their second test of the series against Ireland in Dunedin on Saturday. Some fact and figures from that game below.

New Zealand v Ireland: Lost 23-12

Above: Ireland went on to beat the Maori All Blacks 30-24 on Wednesday night. The third and deciding test is in Wellington on Saturday. FOOTAGE: Peter McDonald.

New Zealand and Ireland have met on 35 occasions. New Zealand has won 30 matches, Ireland’s win tally is now four, and there has been one draw.

Since winning their first-ever match against New Zealand in Chicago in 2016, Ireland has become the All Blacks nemesis. Just four other countries have beaten the All Blacks on four or more occasions: Australia (45) England (eight), France (13) and South Africa (37), but none of them has exercised the same dominance over New Zealand in recent times as has Ireland.

Australia’s last four wins against the All Blacks took them 21 matches to achieve, England’s four wins took 19 matches, France 27 matches and South Africa 19. There was a draw in each of the Australian and South African sequences.

The All Blacks 12 points against Ireland were the fewest they have scored since losing 7-19 to England at Yokohama in the World Cup Semifinal in October 2019.

The All Blacks 12 points were also the fewest they have scored in a match in New Zealand since beating France 8-7 at Auckland in the World Cup Final of 2011.

New Zealand trailed Ireland 7-10 at halftime, the 147th occasion they have been behind in a match after 40 minutes. They have now lost 75 (51%) of those matches.

The All Blacks loss to Ireland was their first against any side in New Zealand since losing 34-36 to South Africa at Wellington in August 2018.
Of the four Home Nations sides, Ireland was the last to visit New Zealand. England first came to New Zealand in 1963 and have since won two of their 15 matches played. Wales was next, in 1969, but after 10 matches are still winless. Likewise, Scotland, who first visited in 1975,are also winless after 10 matches. Ireland’s first visit was in 1976 and they have won their first match, at their 14th attempt.

Between them the four Home Nations sides have played 49 matches against the All Blacks in New Zealand, for just three victories. England’s wins were in Auckland (16-10 in 1973) and Wellington (15-13 in 2003).It took Ireland 110 years and 346 days to win their first-ever test against the All Blacks and 46 years 34 days to beat them for the first time on New Zealand soil, after having played their first match at the old Athletic Park in Wellington on 5 June 1976.

The All Blacks losing margin against Ireland (11 points) is the most they have conceded in a match at home since being beaten by 14 points (8-22) against France at Christchurch in June 1994. That match will also be remembered for Philippe Sella becoming the first player in test history to appear in 100 tests.

The loss to Ireland is the first time the All Blacks have lost the second test of a new season since France won 23-20 at Eden Park on 3 July 1994. That match followed the one mentioned above and is the last time the All Blacks lost a test in Auckland.

The All Blacks have now played 47 tests in Dunedin. Following the first-ever match which was held at Tahuna Park in 1905, Carisbrook became the new venue. A total of 38 matches were staged on that ground before the last one which was held in 2011. The current venue, Forsyth Barr Stadium, staged its first match in 2012 and has now hosted eight tests. This was the All Blacks first loss at Forsyth Barr Stadium and their first defeat in Dunedin since losing 22-27 to France in June 2009. It was also just their sixth loss in a test in Dunedin.

The All Blacks made just one change from the previous test in Auckland to their starting line-up in Dunedin.

Seven overseas-born players appeared in the match against Ireland: the most in any test since seven played in the World Cup Quarter-final against France at Cardiff in October 2007. Seven players are actually the most who have appeared in any All Black test and it has now happened on six occasions, the first time in 2005 against Fiji at Albany.

This test also provided the first time four Tongan-born players have appeared in the same test for New Zealand: Leicester Fainga’anuku, Folau Fakatava (on debut), Samisoni Taukei’aho and Ofa Tu’ungafasi.

The other debutant, Aidan Ross, was born in Australia. There were also two Fijian players (Sevu Reece and Pita Gus Sowakula) in the 23.

Ross is All Black #1202 and Fakatava is All Black #1203. They bring the number of players who have appeared in a test for New Zealand to 887 and that total includes 67 (7.6%) who were born overseas. Dunedin has now been the venue for 128 players who have made their test debut, second only to Wellington where 138 players have appeared in a test match for the first time. For the record, 488 players have played their first test in New Zealand and 399 have appeared for the first time in an away test.

The All Blacks two tries were scored by Beauden Barrett and Will Jordan. Barrett’s try is his 40th in 103 tests and Jordan has scored 18 in 14 tests. Barrett has now scored three tries against Ireland and Jordan two.

Jordie Barrett’s conversion took his overall test tally to 222 points, in 38 appearances. His total against Ireland is 34 points, his most against a single country, one more than the 33 points he has scored against both Australia and South Africa.

Two All Blacks were issued with a yellow card: Leicester Fainga’anuku and Ofa Tu’ungafasi.

Angus Ta’avao was issued with a red card, the seventh to be awarded to an All Black in test history. Thosewho have gone before him are: Cyril Brownlie (against England in 1925), Colin Meads (Scotland 1967), Sonny Bill Williams (British & Irish Lions 2017), Scott Barrett (Australia 2019), Ofa Tu’ungafasi (Australia 2020) and Jordie Barrett (Australia 2021). The Barrett brothers both received their red cards in Perth.

Sam Cane captained the test side for the 12th time. His record is now won eight (66.7%), lost three, and drawn one. It was his first loss to Ireland. Kieran Read was captain for the All Black’s first two losses against Ireland and Sam Whitelock was in charge for the third.

Scott Barrett appeared in his 50th test match. He is the 64th All Black to reach this milestone and he, along with brother Beauden, provide the third instance of brothers each playing 50 or more tests for New Zealand.

The first pair to do so were the Brooke brothers Zinzan (58 tests in total) and Robin (62), followed by the Saveas Julian (54) and Ardie (61). With a third Barrett, Jordie, having made 38 appearances to date, it is more than likely some time next year we will see the unique occasion of three brothers all having played 50 tests for New Zealand.

Ian Foster has been head coach of the All Blacks for 23 matches. His record is now won 16 (69.6%), lost six, and drawn one.

The All Blacks made no attempt to kick a penalty goal in either of the first two tests against Ireland.

Ireland made just one change from the previous test to their starting lineup in Dunedin. Mack Hansen played in his first match against the All Blacks bringing the number of Irish players to have appeared in a test against New Zealand to 279. Of that number 23 have won the first match they played against the All Blacks, a total of 44 have won at least one match, whilst just five players namely New Zealand-born Joey Carbery, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Johnny Sexton and Josh van der Flier, can claim to have been a part of all four winning sides.

Both of Ireland’s tries were scored by Andrew Porter. They were his first against the All Blacks and he has now scored a total of four tries, in 44 test appearances. Porter’s two tries equalled the record for an Irish player in a test against New Zealand: previously achieved by Vince Cunningham (at Dunedin in 1992) and Keith Wood (Dublin in 1997).

Ireland has scored 49 tries in their 35 tests against New Zealand.

Johnny Sexton contributed 13 points to take his tally in 13 test matches for Ireland against the All Blacks to 78.

Before this test Sexton had scored 981 points for Ireland and so he now has 994 points in 107 test appearances.

He has also scored five points in six appearances for the British & Irish Lions so those five points take his total in all test matches to 999, just one point short of becoming only the eighth player in history, and second from Ireland after Ronan O’Gara (1083 points, all for Ireland) to bring up 1000 points. The All Blacks Dan Carter remains at the top of the ladder with 1598 points.

With his 13 tests against New Zealand Sexton equals Brian O’Driscoll for the most appearances for Ireland against this country.