Ireland again retaliates against New Zealand Maori

An Irish repeat beat New Zealand’s Morris (30-24) on Tuesday in Wellington, continuing the good 15th form of Clover in New Zealand, four days after his team’s historic success against the All Blacks in a test match. Thanks in particular to winger Jordan Larmore, the Irish took their revenge after being beaten 32-17 on June 29, at the start of their Oceania tour.

For this meeting, coach Andy Farrell had made up for a revamped squad. His people were first surprised by an attempt from Sean Stevenson since the beginning of the (second) meeting. A short-lived advantage for the Maoris since Jordan first struck Larmor, taking great inspiration from today’s captain Keith Earls to put the two countries in a tie (7th). Shortly before the break, while the match at the foot of opener Ciaran Frawley had already allowed Clover’s XV to widen the gap, third streak Nick Timoney came in for more Irish success (17-5).

New Zealand’s Māori team, made up only of players of Māori descent, revived the suspense for a while thanks to a penalty attempt and then another from Robin Love (69th place), responding to Gavin Coombes’ goal three minutes before. But Armor’s second attempt three minutes before the time was up decided the Irish revenge, despite the recent achievement by Brad Webber (80th place) after the siren.

The Irish round ends on Saturday with a decisive third match against the All Blacks in Wellington. The same would be the case for the triple world champions, who were first defeated on home soil by XV du Clover a week ago (23-12).

Already weakened by the two defeats they suffered in November 2021 against the same Irish team and against France, coach Ian Foster could incur a second loss in a row. The latter is under fire from critics while the Blacks were helpless in Dunedin, two years short of the 2023 World Cup in France. Since Monday, the New Zealanders have ranked fourth in the world, their worst placement since the creation of the rugby world rankings in 2003.