Jonah issues World Cup warning

13 April 2012

The tape had been abruptly switched off for the start of the second half but 50,000 Irish rugby supporters persisted in finishing unaccompanied the most stirring and emotional rendition of The Fields of Athenry.

If ever there was a time for hotblooded young All Black players to freeze, it was then, 16-7 in arrears and within a minute 21-7 behind as an inspired home country scored a third try.

The response could not have been more stunning. The next 20 breathless, intoxicating minutes yielded 26 New Zealand points against only a solitary David Humphreys drop goal for Ireland. The final score was 40-29 to the visitors.

The week of Beaujolais Nouveau, as a French commentator said, had seen the uncorking of All Blacks Nouveau, a good year - perhaps a vintage one - which could be best drunk around the 2003 World Cup.

A new team, fielding new caps, guided for the first time by new coach John Mitchell, had retold the old story of All Black resolve and resilience, allied to a traditional 80-minute intensity no other rugby nation has consistently matched over the decades. Mitchell thought, ominously for anyone else entertaining hopes of World Cup victory, that the win from behind against Ireland would prove a 'great stepping stone' in the careers of his players.

Ireland captain Keith Wood, as devastated in defeat on Saturday as he had been euphoric in last month's triumph over England, reckoned there had been 'no discernible difference' between the ferocity of the respective top-class opposition.

But there was one significant difference. The All Black XV which started in Dublin was collectively 48 years younger than the one fielded by England the week before. Their average age to the nearest year was 24 against England's 27 in a sport whose physical demands tend to advance the ageing process. Rugby is increasingly becoming a young man's game.

Tana Umaga represented the oldest New Zealander on view at 28 while, of their two 20-year-olds earning first caps, Richard McCaw and Aaron Mauger, the former made just about the most impressive international debut one can remember. Legend Josh Kronfeld's mean-spirited remarks about the No.7 All Black jersey being 'given away' these days were made to sound a lot worse than foolish as the Canterbury flanker earned a deserved man-of-the-match award.

But there were also eye-catching contributions from three 23-year-olds - lock Chris Jack, full back Leon MacDonald and winger Doug Howlett - and 24-year- old scrum half Byron Kelleher. Jonah Lomu, still only 26, found Shane Horgan a steadfast opposite number yet scored one try and created two of New Zealand's other five.

Consider in contrast that key English personnel Martin Johnson, Neil Back and Mike Catt are already the wrong side of 30 while Richard Hill, Danny Grewcock, Matt Dawson and Lawrence Dallaglio will have left their 20s by the time of the World Cup.

They would all be gasping for breath just watching the Blacks' second-half display. A first half riddled with mistakes and uncertainty, full of aimless kicking and penalties and possession conceded, however, would have made the Englishmen smile.

'We were rusty,' conceded Mitchell. 'We will be better for this match. I don't think we were conditioned for Test footy and that showed in the first 50 minutes. We will learn an enormous amount from that.'

Scotland, who face the silver fern on Saturday, should be worried.

No- one in the Irish camp took defeat harder than the leader Wood, who could not conceal his initial anger and disappointment at losing a match that seemed there for the taking for so long.

He said: 'When New Zealand stepped up the pace, we were not able to cope. That means we have an awful lot of work to do. And if it is a little bit of a wake-up call, that's OK. We want to be in a position to win those matches.

'The guys in the changing room are really, really sore that we have not taken this chance. That is probably a good thing.'

Only later did some perspective penetrate his aching body as he added: 'If someone had said a year ago that we would have been devastated in losing by just 11 points to the All Blacks in a classic, people would have laughed.'

Wood managed one trophy from the occasion. Lomu insisted that they exchange jerseys. The Kiwi knows an icon when he plays against one.

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