3. Tyrel Lomax – 6
Early breather with a mystery blood-bin check, then bounced back for a solid evening of grunt and shove.
4. Patrick Tuipulotu – 8
Terrific angle and timing on the run for the opening try. Fancied another as well with a couple of head-down drives. Elsewhere, the Blues man was bruising, accurate and unrelenting. His 57-minute stint was the engine room effort of this All Blacks victory.
5. Josh Lord – 6
Displayed some smart early handling in fast breaks and showed great awareness to see the space for locking buddy Tuipulotu’s burst to the line. Tidy lineout work. Rolled through in the tackle on Joe McCarthy that led to the Irish lock’s try at start of the second spell.
Patrick Tuipulotu celebrates scoring against Ireland. Photo / Photosport
6. Tupou Vaa’i – 7
The third man to start in the All Blacks No 6 jersey in three tests. Last time he wore this shirt was the dysfunctional defeat to Argentina in Buenos Aires. Vaa’i was great value in the shoving, argie-bargy that used to be a calling card of the Irish when they were world beaters. He’s a cracking runner too – big fast and skilful.
7. Luke Jacobson – 7
Daft clear out brought a yellow that was somehow not upgraded to a red. Otherwise Jacobson impressed with massive defence and breakdown work, coming up with the halftime-whistle snaffle that confirmed Ireland’s underdog status in this contest. He’s largely silenced doubters who thought the Chiefs man couldn’t convert Super status to international level.
8. Ardie Savea (c) – 7
Comedy try from the back of the scrum in 18th minute when the Irish No 6 managed to tackle himself. Skipper was pumped from go to whoa. With all the chatter about our key man needing a rest, was it prudent for him to play out 80 minutes here?
All Blacks captain Ardie Savea shares a moment with Ireland halfback Jamison Gibson-Park at the end of the match. Photo / Photosport
9. Cam Roigard – 4
A messy night for the All Blacks star No 9, a bloke who is regularly best on show. A crappy early pass, a poor clearance in the 16th minute and then he fell over when trying to boot the ball soon afterwards. On the plus side, he sharpened up as the game went on, and (regrettably) the box kicks got better.
10. Ruben Love – 7
Lovely mix of organisational nous and bursts of brilliance. But, mate, if your knee needs that much strapping in a match where the result is pretty much in the bag, just come off.
11. Josh Moorby – 6
One of four Joshes taking the field in the starting line ups (surely that’s a record), Moorby was the biggest of the All Blacks outside backs. Impressed on first run last week, but had few front-foot chances in Sandringham. Handy in tidy up work in the air and on the deck.
12. Jordie Barrett – 7
Mixed night of kicking, but plenty of great handling and dash. Great hustle in 29th minute to cut off an Irish break when the ABs were a man down.
13. Quinn Tupaea – 7
Mighty Quinn Tupaea showed more of the arrowhead charges and fine handling we’ve come to expect with his move out to the No 13 jersey. Chiefs man has become a key part of the midfield architecture.
14. Will Jordan – 6
King of All Blacks tryscorers added another, otherwise his involvement was mostly of the short-handling variety. Terrific tackle and won a ruck penalty when Ireland had the barest of sniffs in the 73rd minute.
15. Damian McKenzie – 7
Scratchy in first quarter, but the rest of his night was typical bouncing out of half-hits and hooning through half-gaps. Tough bloke to keep down.
Bench
16. Asafo Aumua – 8
Gave once-quite-useful flanker Josh van der Flier a full door-matting in the build-up to his own dabbing try. Aumua came on early and was influential and accurate in all he did. The All Blacks have been lucky with depth in our hooking ranks for a couple of decades, and on this showing Aumua is ready to ascend to the top slot.
All Blacks replacement hooker Asafo Aumua scores against Ireland at Eden Park. Photo / SmartFrame
17. Xavier Numia – 7
Really impressive half-hour stint of direct ball carrying. In the Hurricanes championship campaign, Numia showed he had the raw elements worthy of a look at international level; in his two runs in the black jersey to date he has fitted right in. Bigger challenges will come on the High Veldt, but this kid is good.
18. Fletcher Newell – 5
On as a blood-bin sub, then on again in the second half for proper shoving and toiling as Ireland flailed about to little effect.
19. Anton Segner – 6
The latest of the All Blacks’ bench players to have his number called, Segner worked hard to make his presence felt in a 15-minute cameo.
20. Peter Lakai – 5
A short run from a bloke who warrants more time on the park in meaningful tests.
21. Cortez Ratima – 6
Not often that the guy replacing Cam Roigard looks better than the original, but Ratima was accurate and snappy as the All Blacks kept their cool.
22. Anton Lienert-Brown – 7
Fans who would love to see the All Blacks get in line with Bomb Squad philosophy might have to wait until after the upcoming four-test series against the Springboks, when Rrassie Erasmus will have nudged our national discourse in the right direction. In the meantime, a deserved chance for Anton Lienert-Brown in an accurate 13-minute run.
23. Caleb Clarke – 7
Powerhouse running in a final-quarter burst. Clarke reminded that his raw power makes him the most menacing of the All Blacks wing assets for bumping off tacklers.
Winston Aldworth is Head of Sport for NZME, working alongside New Zealand’s best sports journalists in the radio and publishing teams.
