Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: New Zealand Maori beat Ireland in seesaw battle

Sunday, June 20, 2010

New Zealand Maori beat Ireland in seesaw battle

It’s been another big weekend for international rugby as fiercely contested games took place all over the globe. So today is catch-up time for highlights as we start with the New Zealand Maori beating of Ireland, as they snuck a 31-28 win.

The Maori side marked their centenary year with the scalp of the Irish, who came back strong after being down 18-3 in the first half. The game looked as though it had gotten away from them at that stage, but they steadied the ship and incredibly lead the game 25-18 early in the second half.

Jonathan Sexton kicked 23 points for Ireland, but missed his first kick in the 73rd minute, a penalty that would have probably earned his side a draw.

With the win, New Zealand Maori added Ireland to their proud list of international victims, which includes England, France, Australia, and the British & Irish Lions.

"It's awesome for Maori rugby, what's happened," said Liam Messam. "It's a bit of history for Maori rugby so I'm proud of the boys. We can't wipe the smile of the boys' faces in the changing room at the moment. They're really stoked at what they've done."

Ireland’s captain on the night, Geordan Murphy, said that his side were sucked into the way that the Maori played and were too loose in the second half.

"We tried a couple of offloads when potentially we could have held on to the ball and put them under a bit more pressure. It's difficult when you play a game like that not to try to throw the 50-50 passes," he said.

Ireland head to Brisbane now to face Australia in a Test next weekend.

Time: 03:04

Crazy game! Maori were looking like sticking up 50 then next minute Ireland were in the lead. Fair play to them. That Karl Lowe try was brilliant

By Benson, at June 20, 2010 11:26 am
first! Great game.

By Unknown, at June 20, 2010 11:26 am
Aaw Kevin, nice try. ;)

At least one of the things you said was correct.. and relevant. It was a great game indeed.

By Benson, at June 20, 2010 11:32 am
lol

By Unknown, at June 20, 2010 11:39 am
i was born in ireland but maori all the way haha

By rosh, at June 20, 2010 11:54 am
quality match but no clip of the tima tanga?

By Unknown, at June 20, 2010 12:07 pm
Looked like a great game, but cant help but notice that shane horgan seemed to be a fault for nearly all the maori trys! What the hell was doing? He looked like he didnt want to make a tackle!

ah paddy wallace if you added him and d'arcy together ireland would have a great 12 lol d'arcy runs up his own arse 90% of the time but is a strong defender and runner and wallace has a great brain and skills but just isnt enough of a physical presense.

How'd Ruddock go in this game? Big step in a few weeks from u20 world cup to pretty much a full test match.

Hopefully Ireland will put in at least a decent showing against the aussies. Not counting on that lol Murphy needs to start against them Kearney has went from the best 15 in the world to awful in less than 12months! Nice work Rob

By MartyMcFly, at June 20, 2010 12:14 pm
Stringer should start the Aussie match. I don't see why Reddan is picked. If you are going for a defensive option, you'd pick O'Laoire. If you were going for a passer, you'd go for Stringer. Reddan isn't a great defensive SH and is a slower passer than Stringer and much slower at getting the ball out of the ruck.

Stringer is the best / fastest passer in the world IMO (that's all he can really do, but he does it really well, and it is his main function) and gets the ball quick. Ireland could really have used some quick ball in that match.

-Ken Gardener

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 12:39 pm
@ Marty McFly
Horgan has been terrible all season. He only starts for Leinster because Luke's injured. He's been slow and poor at tackling. In the Magners League Final he made an intercept and was chased down by Ryan Jones. He wouldn't be on tour if Earls/Luke were fit.

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 1:10 pm
1 Buckley
2 Cronin
3 Court
4 O'Donaghue
5 O'Connel
6 Mclaughlin
7 Wallace
8 Heaslip

9 Boss
10 Sexton
11 Trimble
12 Wallace
13 O'Drisscoll
14 Bowe
15 Kearny

By Matty10, at June 20, 2010 1:11 pm
To be fair to horgan he seemed to be playing with a pretty ad injury for some of the second half...then again defence has never beeen his strong point.

Not a bad performance by a second string irish team. Ref could've been a bit more balanced though. That Lowe try was great but that was some of the worst defending by an irish team since.....well, last week :)

Congratulaltions to the Maori on 100 years of great rugby. From ireland

By Third Centre, at June 20, 2010 2:04 pm
Ken - i think O'Leary's better - not only solid in defence but for once in the past 15 years, possibly 20 - Ireland have had a scrum half that can score tries and will adventure.

Stringer is a let down in defence - not matter how much he tap tackles and isn't the best at breaking the line. The one thing i find great about him is his bullet pass and his speed of service which can give a team momentum - Based on that i think he's a great impact sub should the team slow down in momentum.

By BigBucks, at June 20, 2010 2:25 pm
@Matty10
Buckley is a tighthead and is too big to play loosehead, McLaughlin is out injured, Heaslip is on a ban, and is Iassac Boss even on the tour? If its your Ireland dream team then you have dropped serious experience, Cronin a good player and all is third choice as of now, and leaving out Ferris is a joke! Also putting in Trimble and Walllace ahead of Fitzgerald and Earls is also a joke!

By Dan, at June 20, 2010 3:37 pm
Now Shane 'can't outrun Ryan Jones with head start' Horgan, you've got a go in green, now piss off back to Meath. Denis Hurley or Fionn Carr would've such a better option and either should've gone.

Worst plane ticket ever!

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 5:04 pm
I would like to see stringer start, but I just read Bigbucks comment....whilst I'd rather still pick stringer as a starter over any of the others, I have to agree he is a good impact player at catching the defence unawares!!

By Anonymous, at June 20, 2010 5:19 pm
Typical Kiwi bias in the commentating. All over the penalty against the Maori then has nothing to say about the Irish one. Well done to the Maori though, always a pleasure to watch them play (them, the Bas Bas and the Lions play the most entertaining rugby).

By Canadian Content, at June 20, 2010 8:24 pm
agree with all of the above:shane horgan should piss off back to ireland and announce his immediate retirement.has nothing to offer to irish rugby(average pace,poor defence,no tactical awareness).fionn carr and denis hurley have both pissed all over him in the magners league this season.

on a different note,i think that first try for the maori shows perfectly the differense between the NH and SH.
a NH side,with a 2-man overlap,would have all drifted sideways and shunted the ball to their winger,who would gain about 10 yards,before being cut off by the defense.however,the maori player spots the drift defense and runs a beautiful short line,before drawing two players and oofloading for the score,until the NH sides become more tactically aware and intelligent in attack,they're always going to be second best

By Ireland for WC 2011, at June 20, 2010 11:31 pm
i think O'Leary's better - not only solid in defence but for once in the past 15 years, possibly 20 - Ireland have had a scrum half that can score tries and will adventure.

Stringer is a let down in defence - not matter how much he tap tackles and isn't the best at breaking the line. The one thing i find great about him is his bullet pass and his speed of service which can give a team momentum - Based on that i think he's a great impact sub should the team slow down in momentum.

No, I agree. With the physicality of most teams these days, O'Laoire's the best option. It's just that if you do decide to go for a passer at the expense of a good defender, why go for Reddan? His pass is slower that Stringer's and he's that much better of a defender.

O'Laoire is 1st choice though, no doubt.

-Ken Gardener

By Anonymous, at June 21, 2010 12:00 am
Does anyone know why Carr wasn't picked for the tour? Horgan is a good winger, despite all the buyer's remorse mentioned here (you didn't get a chance to enjoy NZ while there??). But Carr was on fire this season and he's feisty - something Ireland could use maybe.

Did he call Kidney's wife a cow or something? I don't get it, that's all...

By michael jackson's nose, at June 21, 2010 7:11 am
Does anyone know why Carr wasn't picked for the tour? Horgan is a good winger, despite all the buyer's remorse mentioned here (you didn't get a chance to enjoy NZ while there??). But Carr was on fire this season and he's feisty - something Ireland could use maybe.

Did he call Kidney's wife a cow or something? I don't get it, that's all...

By michael jackson's nose, at June 21, 2010 7:11 am
Horgan has given great service to Irish rugby over the years - it's sad to see some comments like "f**k off back to Ireland" etc... It's an ignorant way to talk about any player.

Give the guy a break. The problem was with management not taking him off after he knocked himself out trying to tackle Gear early on. Looked like he was out cold. That he went on to play the whole match when clearly out of sorts is a failure of management not the player.

Sure he's past it as a first choice (or 2nd or 3rd) choice international wing. He's dropped back to "journeyman" status really.

With so many injuries I think they wanted an experienced player to bring on tour - he wont be in the squad for the Australia match... holding tackle bags for the rest of the tour and probably the last we'll see of him in an Irish jersey - but let's acknowledge his contribution over the years.

By Litet Parlan, at June 21, 2010 11:54 am
Michael Jackson's nose - apparently the management weren't happy with Carr's defence....although i can't see how it would be way worse than horgans and Carr would've benefited from being in the squad immensely.

The commentators on the Fox channel were quite a suprise, they knew the irish players names and and what clubs they played for. I was astounded. The commentators in this clip are a joke

By Third Centre, at June 21, 2010 12:01 pm
Fionn Carr was the top try scorer in ML playing with the worst team. Imagine what he could've done playing outside P Wallace, O'Driscoll, G Murphy and co. Wales have proved small players are worth the chance (Halfpenny and Williams). Defence should'nt be the main point to a winger's inclusion. If it is, then rugby is in a dire state in the NH.

And Horgan has a terrible record for Ireland (65 caps, 20 tries, 1 try every 3 games). Can't kick (for ex GAA thats poor), can't tackle and can't run. Lets not let 3 tries v Eng in 7 apps mask what is an other wise average test winger. Hickie showed the way to leave, Horgan is just making a fool of himself by continuing.
Also, the 1st try came before he got knocked the fuck out.

By Huh!! the 3rd, at June 21, 2010 4:23 pm
Don't forget little Gio Aplon for SA. I'm loving it; the guy weighs less than I do at wing! And yeah, while his defense is obviously not the greatest, he's willing (like Williams and most "smaller" guys) to throw everything at bigger blokes who come through his channel.

...it's not like his defense could be as bad as O'Gara or Quade Cooper.

By evening, at June 21, 2010 8:42 pm
Thanks evening.

I couldn't include Habana or Giteau in my point because they are brilliant defenders. Really punch above their weight in D.
To think of it, SA are producing small(ish) wings too, in the shape of Aplon as you say, but also, The Bulls wing, name escapes me(van der herven or something) and de Jonge(centre).

If O'Gara can continually be picked then its hypocritical. Considering he's looking at 18 months of bench warming, and presuming you can have 1 bad defender, why not try Carr outside Sexton, I know a full strenght squad he'd be 5 or 6th choice, but as with this tour, you never know. Bar last week, even with ROG Ire weren't exactly leaking tries before. TOO CONSERVATIVE.

By Huh!! the 3rd, at June 21, 2010 10:40 pm
Mick Jackson's nose.

I'd say he was refering to Shane Horgan's late arrival in NZ after falling ill. Waste of the irfu's money to send him down separately or something.

By Anonymous, at June 22, 2010 1:57 am
Yeah, while ROG may be set out to pasture soon, I'd love it if he were able to make it to 1000 international points before heading out the door. I think he only needs around 30-40 more, so around 5 or so matches and he ought to get it.

By evening, at June 22, 2010 3:04 am