|
 |
 | | | You are in: Rugby Union |
|
| | Sunday, 16 June, 2002, 11:29 GMT 12:29 UK Mitchell: We were lucky Mitchell said the All Blacks were fortuitous in Dunedin New Zealand coach John Mitchell admits his side were fortunate to keep their 97-year unbeaten record against Ireland. His statements were backed up by Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan who watched agonisingly from the sidelines as the All Blacks squeezed home in the first Test. The Kiwis were ruffled by the Irish and needed a late try from Leon McDonald to secure a 15-6 win in Dunedin. That gave Mitchell his fifth successive win since taking over the helm of the All Blacks.
It was far from easy for New Zealand, whose starting line-up included 13 players from Canterbury, the all-conquering unbeaten Super 12 champions. For a country that had scored 205 points in their previous four meetings with the Irish, last night's performance is likely to have sounded a few alarm bells. "It can be awful as a coach sometimes when it doesn't go to plan and it certainly didn't go to plan," said Mitchell. "We will be better for this and, yes, we were lucky to get out of it. ''But let's give Ireland some credit. They played very well. "People talk about their passion and emotion, but they are a better side than just that now. ''They are well organised and played a structured game. ''They prevented us from playing but we coughed up a lot of ball and they were able to feed off that. "But, hey, we got the result and that's all that matters right now.
''We got more points than them and that's what the game is about. ''But we came up against more resistance and that will continue in this next match." Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan said that his side just did not get the luck they deserved. ''We needed the rub of the green a few times and didn't get it,'' he said. ''No break went our way between getting over the line and missing a few kicks at vital times. ''But the most pleasing aspect was that when we went long periods without the ball we defended very well. ''We scrambled well when they broke. ''The scrum was good and we competed well there but we didn't get the possession we wanted late on from the lineout because we tired a bit. ''I'm disappointed because with 10 minutes to go I thought we'd get a chance to win it, but we didn't spend enough time in their third of the field.
''If anything had gone our way at that point something would have happened. ''I thought some of the stuff we did was pretty good. ''If we do it again next week and get a bit of luck on top then we'll get something. ''But I suppose we got what we deserved out of it. ''It's a pity because we played some good rugby. ''We didn't come here to stick it in the corners all night.'' Ireland travelled up to Auckland on Sunday and and went to bed early before rising to take in the Republic of Ireland's World Cup game against Spain. ''It has been a very tiring 24 hours for the players,'' said IRFU media officer John Redmond. ''When they arrived in Auckland they went straight to bed, but while there is no official team viewing, no doubt most of the players will set their alarm and watch the game from their rooms.'' | |
Internet links:  The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Rugby Union stories now: Links to more Rugby Union stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|  | | | | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|  E-mail this story to a friend |
| |
| Links to more Rugby Union stories |
| | | ||
 | ||||
 | | Back to top
| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> | BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |
