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All Blacks v Ireland third test stat attack

The All Blacks missed out to Ireland in the third and deciding test on Saturday. Some facts and figures by Peter Marriott below.

New Zealand v Ireland: Lost 22-32

New Zealand and Ireland have played 36 tests against each other. New Zealand has won 30 matches, Ireland
has now won five, and there has been one draw.

Wellington was the first New Zealand city to host an All Black test: against Great Britain on 13 August 1904.
The home team won the match 9-3. It was the second-ever test played by the All Blacks. They have now
played 69 tests in Wellington: 42 at the old Athletic Park and 27 at Westpac/Sky Stadium. Of those 69 tests
they have won 49, lost 15 and drawn five.

The All Blacks have played 290 matches in nine home cities losing in five of them whilst remaining unbeaten in
the other four. Most of their 41 losses at home venues have been in Wellington (15): next is Auckland with 10,
followed by Christchurch (nine), Dunedin (six) and Hamilton (one). After losing to South Africa at Hamilton in
September 2009, New Zealand has lost just four and drawn three of the 71 matches they have played since
then. However, Wellington has been the venue for three of those losses and two of the draws with the results
of their last four matches reading lost, drawn, drawn and lost. No other New Zealand city has gone more than
two matches in succession without a win.

Having also been beaten by Ireland in the previous match at Dunedin, the All Blacks experienced just the fifth
time they have lost successive matches in the same season at home. The first occasion was in 1937, then
1949, 1994 and 1998 (against South Africa in Wellington and Australia in Christchurch).

New Zealand has now been beaten in four of their last five test matches. The last time this happened was in
1998 when they actually lost their final five matches of the year.

Of the four Home Nations teams, the All Blacks have played Ireland four times in Wellington, for one loss,
England twice, for one loss, and Wales whom they beat. Scotland has played 10 matches in New Zealand but
never in Wellington.

New Zealand trailed Ireland by 19 points at halftime in Wellington, their largest deficit ever, in 615 test matches.
The previous record had been 18 points, against France in Paris in November 2021, when they were behind
6-24 after 40 minutes. That was just four matches prior to this one. When Ireland first beat the All Blacks in
Chicago in 2016, Ireland was ahead 25-8 at halftime, a lead of 17 points.

The All Blacks have scored just three points by halftime in a match on 52 occasions. At that stage they have
been ahead 11 times winning seven, level 17 and winning 10, behind 24 winning just five. Overall they have lost
29 times and drawn once.

There have now been 27 different seasons when New Zealand played three tests against a visiting side. The
2-1 loss to Ireland is just the third time the All Blacks have lost a three-test series at home. The first time was
in 1937 against South Africa – the All Blacks won the first test in Wellington 13-7, lost 6-13 in Christchurch, and
lost 6-17 in Auckland. The second occasion was in 1986, against Australia: the first test in Wellington was lost
12-13, the second in Dunedin was won 13-12 and the third in Auckland lost 9-22.

For the third test in a row Ireland scored the first points. In each case it was a try: in the first test it was after
six minutes, the second test after three minutes and the test in Wellington, after four minutes. As a matter of
interest in the All Blacks final match in 2021 against France, which they lost, France also scored first, a try
after three minutes.

During the match the All Blacks brought up 1000 points against Ireland. The total is now 1013 and they are the
sixth team to have conceded 1000 points against the All Blacks. The others are Australia (3788 points),
South Africa (2098), France (1621), Argentina (1278) and Wales (1164). England is close behind having
conceded 992 points.

The All Blacks also scored their 9000th point in the second half of a match. The total is now 9002 and with
8369 first half points having been scored, their aggregate in all matches is 17,371 points at an average of 28.2
points per match.

The All Blacks have now been the second side to score in a test on 250 occasions. They have won 165 (66%)
of those matches, lost 73 and drawn 12.

The All Blacks have conceded 32 points in a match on four occasions. The first three times were all against
South Africa. They have only won one of those matches: at Johannesburg in 1997.

The All Blacks have now played 112 test matches in July for 85 wins, 24 losses and three draws. They have
also played 112 tests in June but they have played the most during August, some 113.

With the loss against Ireland, New Zealand’s winning percentage dipped below 77% for the first time since it
stood at 76.97 after their drawn test against the British & Irish Lions at Auckland on 8 July 2017. That was
some 59 matches previously.

The All Blacks have scored 99 tries in their 27 tests at Westpac/Sky Stadium.

The first try scored by Ireland was their 50th in tests against New Zealand.

The All Blacks three tries against Ireland were scored by Ardie Savea (his 18th overall), Akira Ioane (his first
in his 14th test) and Will Jordan (his 19th in just his 15th test). Savea has scored three tries against Ireland:
he scored two in the first test in Auckland and Jordan has also scored three tries against Ireland.

Six players, including one debutant, made their first appearance in 2022 for the All Blacks in this match. The
five incumbents were Dane Coles, David Havili, Akira Ioane, Nepo Laulala and Tupou Vaa’i. Only Vaa’i had not
previously played against Ireland.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck made his rugby test debut having previously played at the top level in rugby league. He
became All Bllack #1204 and is the 15th to have been born in Samoa to play a test for New Zealand. Tuivasa-
Sheck is also the 888th player to appear in a test for the All Blacks and the 139th to play his first test in
Wellington. More players have made their test debut in Wellington than anywhere else. Dunedin is next on the
list with 128 debutants. With five players having made their test debut during the series, a total of 60 have now
played their first test against Ireland.

Tuivasa-Sheck, along with Nepo Laulala, provided the first occasion two Samoan-born players had taken the
field for the All Blacks in a test since Malili Muliaina and Isaia Toeava both appeared against Argentina at
Auckland in October 2011. Jerome Kaino has since played alongside Laulala several times but they are not
considered as an example because Kaino was born in American Samoa.

Sam Cane’s record as All Black test captain now stands at played 13, won eight (61.5%), lost four and drawn
one. His four losses have been in two sequences of two in a row and he is the third All Black captain to have
lost successive tests on two or more occasions. Sean Fitzpatrick has achieved it twice: two and three in a
a row. Taine Randell has also had two sequences: five (the worst-ever for an All Black captain) and then later
on during his tenure, three in a row.

Rieko Ioane appeared in his 50th test match. He is the 65th All Black to reach this milestone.

For Ireland, tries were scored by Robbie Henshaw (his ninth and third against New Zealand), Rob Herring (his
second and first against New Zealand), Hugo Keenan (seventh and first against New Zealand) and Josh van
der Flier (eighth and first against New Zealand).

Two players including Mack Hansen (who played in the Second and Third tests), have appeared in two tests
against New Zealand and won them both. Herring, however, is unique in that he has played against the All
Blacks three times winning all three of those matches.

Johnny Sexton kicked 12 points in the match and in doing so brought up two milestones: he started the match
sitting on 999 points (994 for Ireland and five for the British & Irish Lions). His first conversion brought up 1000
points in all matches and he joined seven other players who have reached that total. His second conversion
brought up 1000 points for Ireland making him just the second player after Ronan O’Gara (1083 points) to reach
that target for his country. Sexton now sits on 1011 points: 1006 for Ireland and 1011 in all matches. In all,
he has appeared in 114 test matches scoring at an average rate of 8.9 points per match.

This was Sexton’s 14th match for Ireland against New Zealand. He now holds the Irish record for most matches
played against the All Blacks, one ahead Cian Healy and Brian O’Driscoll. However, both Healy and Sexton
have been in all five winning sides against New Zealand whereas O’Driscoll failed to win any of his matches.
Sexton is also now Ireland’s most successful captain against the All Blacks with three wins to Rory Best’s two.

Johnny Sexton’s points tally against New Zealand is now 90, well ahead of Ronan O’Gara who scored 38 points
in 12 outings.

Andrew Porter became the second Irish player to be issued with a yellow card during this series. In the previous
test at Dunedin he had been the hero of his side in scoring two tries.

During the three matches just concluded, New Zealand aggregated 76 points made up of 11 tries, nine
conversions and one penalty. Ireland totalled 74 points made up of nine tries, seven conversions and five
penalties.

All Black Ardie Savea scored the most tries (three) followed by team mate Will Jordan and Ireland’s Andrew
Porter who both scored twice.

Jordie Barrett scored the most points: 26 (made up of one try, nine conversions and one penalty) closely
followed by Johnny Sexton who scored 25 (five conversions and five penalties).

Ireland fielded the same starting combination from jersey No 1 to No 12 (plus No 15) in every game and a total
of 26 players were used during the three tests. By comparison New Zealand fielded 33 different players with 10
starting in every match.

England Referee Wayne Barnes appeared in his 99th test match. Of those he has controlled 20 involving
New Zealand including three against Ireland. The All Blacks have won eight matches and lost 12 when Barnes
has been in charge.

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