McKenzie kicks All Blacks to victory over Ireland

New Zealand have claimed a statement victory for new coach Scott Robertson, as Damian McKenzie helped kick them to a 23-13 win over world No 1 side Ireland and hand their rivals a first home defeat in 20 matches. 

The All Blacks anticipated a backlash at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin after dumping Ireland out of last year's Rugby World Cup in an epic quarter-final clash.

But the game this morning (NZ time) failed to live up to the pre-match hype in a first half that a more cohesive New Zealand shaded 9-6.

The momentum looked to have turned on a yellow card for New Zealand's Jordie Barrett just before the break and a different Ireland emerged for the second half with a Josh van der Flier try putting the back-to-back Six Nations champions in front.

But it was short-lived for the scrappy hosts as three more penalties from man of the match and first five-eighth McKenzie moved the visitors ahead before Will Jordan continued his record of scoring in each of his five tests against Ireland to put the game out of sight.

Ireland will be bitterly disappointed with one of their poorest performances in years, particularly after so much focus on avenging their most agonising World Cup quarter-final exit to date in a tournament they had high hopes of winning.

They started on the front foot, an Andrew Porter block down on Cortez Ratima within the first two minutes setting the tone for Jack Crowley to kick them into the lead after New Zealand fell foul of new laws around kicks in open play.

The contrasting style of Ireland's precise phase-play attack against New Zealand's ability to create something out of nothing was evident when Ratima found a gap and his searing break resulted in McKenzie levelling at 3-3.

The temperature went up a notch minutes later when players from both sides had to be separated as the camera panned with perfect Hollywood timing to Gladiator 2 star and Irishman Paul Mescal in the crowd enjoying the scuffle.

But it was cagey cat-and-mouse stuff once the action resumed with Ireland making little impact in attack for long periods and having to rely on sharp defence to keep All Black waves at bay.

Two more McKenzie penalties and one for Crowley kept it tight at halftime and a yellow card just before the break for soon-to-be Leinster centre Jordie Barrett allowed a different Ireland to emerge in the second half.

After driving the All Blacks over their line within two minutes and pumping the crowd up with clenched fists, Ireland struck off the resulting scrum as flanker Van der Flier crossed over and Crowley made it 13-9.

Ireland were close to striking again but continued to struggle to control the slippery ball and the visitors limited the sin bin damage with McKenzie making it a one-point game before putting New Zealand in front again on the hour.

McKenzie, back at first five-eighth after Beauden Barrett was ruled out after suffering a concussion in last week's narrow 24-22 win over England at Twickenham, added his sixth successful penalty from seven attempts to stretch the advantage.

The hosts' handling errors deepened as Jordan continued his record of scoring in each of his five tests against Ireland with the simplest of finishes to put the game to bed and make it five wins apiece in the last 10 meetings of this growing rivalry.

Scores 

ALL BLACKS 

Will Jordan (try), Damian McKenzie (6 pen)

IRELAND 

Josh van der Flier (try), Jack Crowley (2 pen, 1 con)

Half time: 9-6 to All Blacks