New Zealand claim statement 23-13 win over top-ranked Ireland

DUBLIN: New Zealand claimed a statement victory for new coach Scott Robertson as Damian McKenzie helped kick them to a 23-13 win over world number one side Ireland and hand their rivals a first home defeat in 20 matches at the Aviva Stadium on Friday.

The All Blacks anticipated a backlash after dumping Ireland out of last year’s Rugby World Cup in an epic quarter-final clash but Friday’s game failed to live up to the pre-match hype in a first half that a more cohesive New Zealand shaded 9-6.

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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 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.