New Zealand extend Eden Park dominance with commanding six-try victory over Ireland

New Zealand produced a clinical display to defeat Ireland 40-21 in Auckland, extending their remarkable 32-year unbeaten record at Eden Park and completing a perfect Nations Championship campaign on home soil.

The All Blacks ran in six tries through Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea, Will Jordan, Asafo Aumua, Damian McKenzie and Anton Lienert-Brown to secure a bonus-point win. Ruben Love added five conversions as the hosts finished with the maximum 15 points from their three matches.

Ireland crossed through Jack Conan, Joe McCarthy and Hugo Keenan, with Sam Prendergast converting all three scores, but Andy Farrell’s side paid the price for a mistake-filled opening half and suffered a fourth consecutive defeat to New Zealand.

Fresh from victories over France and Italy, the All Blacks wasted little time asserting themselves. Ireland’s first attack into New Zealand territory ended with James Ryan spilling possession, allowing the hosts to launch a swift counter that culminated in Tuipulotu crashing over after collecting Josh Lord’s pass.

Savea soon doubled the advantage before Ireland were handed a lifeline when Luke Jacobson was shown a yellow card for a dangerous clear-out on Josh van der Flier. The incident was reviewed but the flanker avoided an upgrade to a 20-minute red card.

The extra man allowed Ireland to respond as Conan powered over from close range, but any hopes of building momentum quickly disappeared.

A loose pass from Stuart McCloskey gifted Will Jordan a simple try near Ireland’s own line, taking the prolific wing’s international tally to 51 tries in 57 Tests and his sixth against Ireland in just seven appearances.

Replacement hooker Asafo Aumua then crossed shortly before the interval to hand New Zealand a commanding 28-7 lead and effectively put the contest beyond doubt.

Ireland started the second half brightly, with McCarthy reducing the deficit early after the restart, but New Zealand quickly regained control.

McKenzie finished off an excellent flowing move before Love converted once again to continue his flawless afternoon from the tee.

Keenan’s late try briefly gave Ireland hope of collecting both a losing and try bonus point, but the visitors were unable to mount another sustained attack before Lienart-Brown added a sixth All Blacks try in the closing stages to complete an emphatic victory.

The result stretches New Zealand’s unbeaten run at Eden Park to 53 Test matches and provides ideal momentum ahead of next month’s four-match series against South Africa.

Captain Ardie Savea praised his side’s intent after the convincing victory.

“Very proud of the men turning up here tonight and putting in a performance like that.

“I think it’s all been in the mindset. We talked about throwing the first punch, and you know we got a lead in the first five minutes, so that was a start.

“You’ve got to give credit to the Irish, they’re real quality. But we’re stoked to get the win.”

Instead, meanwhile, leave Auckland without a point despite a stronger second-half showing and will now turn their attention to the northern hemisphere leg of the Nations Championship later this year, where they host Argentina, Fiji and world champions South Africa.

Captain Dan Sheehan admitted his side had been punished by a ruthless opponent.

“The All Blacks are a classy outfit, and they’ll punish you if you’re not on your A-game, and at times we weren’t.

“We wanted to test ourselves against the best, we know where we are now and we know the work we have to do because it’s a big, big year coming up leading up to the World Cup.”