All Blacks extend Eden Park record in statement victory over Ireland – As it happened
All Blacks lock Patrick Tuipulotu celebrates scoring against Ireland at Eden Park.
The Eden Park unbeaten streak continues as Dave Rennie’s men claimed a six-try, 40-21 victory over Ireland in the Nations Championship.
New Zealand are now unbeaten in 32 years at the iconic venue, notching up their 51st victory since falling to a defeat to France back in 1994 in Auckland to go with two draws in a 53-game run.
All Blacks defend Eden Park record
The All Blacks came flying out the blocks in this one with Patrick Tuipulotu grabbing the opening try of the game in the 14th minute, the returning second row sprinting into a gap after receiving a pass from his second row partner Josh Lord.
Ardie Savea equalled Stu Wilson’s record of nine tries at Eden Park when he raced off the back of a scrum to grab his side’s second try of the encounter before Ireland finally hit back through Jack Conan, the Irish back-rower running a fantastic line to crash over.
Hopes that Ireland were fighting back into the fixture after that score were quickly dashed when Stu McCloskey threw a wayward pass that only found ground to gift Will Jordan another try with Asafo Aumua slamming the ball down soon after to give New Zealand a 28-7 half-time lead.
Joe McCarthy closed the gap for the visitors four minutes into the second half, but New Zealand hit back in the 55th minute through man of the match Damian McKenzie. Hugo Keenan scored after the hour mark to give the Irish hope that they will be the team to end the All Blacks’ unbeaten run but Anton Lienert-Brown came off the bench to finish the job for Rennie’s men.
The new head coach has now won all three of his opening games in charge since taking over from Scott Robertson with the tour to South Africa now next on their agenda.
Check out our blow-for-blow reaction from the game below. Scroll down past the teamsheets.
New Zealand: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Josh Moorby, 10 Ruben Love, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Ardie Savea (c), 7 Luke Jacobson, 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Josh Lord, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Anton Segner, 20 Peter Lakai, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Caleb Clarke
Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Jimmy O’Brien, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan (c), 1 Tom O’Toole
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Jeremy Loughman, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 Nick Timoney, 20 Sean Jansen, 21 Craig Casey, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Bundee Aki
Broadcasters: ITV (United Kingdom), TF1 (France), Virgin Media Television (Republic of Ireland), Sky Italia (Italy), Wowow (Japan), Sky Sport (New Zealand), Nine Network / Stan Sport (Australia), SuperSport (South Africa)