Ireland were smarting after their humiliating record 60-0 loss against the All Blacks on Saturday but promised to bounce back the better for it.
Captain Brian O’Driscoll struggled for words to describe being kept pointless in a nine-tries-to-nil drubbing. “You get sick of that scoreline pretty quickly,” he said.
Ireland went into the Test with confidence, feeling they were on the verge of an historic first win over the All Blacks after being pipped 22-19 by a last-minute drop goal a week ago.
But instead they were out of the game within 25 minutes as the All Blacks notched up four quick tries, and went on to record Ireland’s biggest-ever margin of defeat against New Zealand.
Coach Declan Kidney said his outplayed side had much to learn from the way the All Blacks attacked and tackled.
“We found out a lot of things about ourselves that we don’t like but we know that we’ve found them out and we’ll go into the off season and we’ll address those for next season no doubt,” he said.
“We will gain in the long run as much as it’s hurtful now.”
After facing the All Blacks 13 times in his career without success, O’Driscoll had no hesitation in putting the 2012 vintage up with the best despite their lack of experience.
Six of the starting All Blacks had a total of only 24 caps between them, including debutant Luke Romano.
Another debutant, Beauden Barrett, came off the bench as did Tamati Ellison for his second cap and Brodie Retallick his third.
“It’s difficult to look back on other (All Blacks) performances and think of a better one. The fact they managed to nil us is pretty impressive,” O’Driscoll said.
“Last week we were able to start really well and score ourselves and kept within one score the whole way, and when you make a match of it like that that’s the only way of staying with them,” O’Driscoll said.
“But you surrender — they didn’t seem to have to work over hard for them — pretty easy tries straight away, you’re chasing it and they’re not a team to be chasing because they just play with a great flow.”