All Blacks ease past Ireland

Ma'a Nonu and Brad Thorn grabbed second-half tries to help New Zealand cruise to a 22-3 win over Ireland at Croke Park.

Back to full strength after last week's laboured success over Scotland, the All Blacks comfortably secured a 21st in a row over their opponents.

Defeat was a disappointment for Brian O'Driscoll on his 50th appearance as Ireland captain, while it is the first under new coach Declan Kidney.

All the hosts mustered was a penalty from Ronan O'Gara just before the break that wiped out an earlier three points from the boot of Dan Carter.

Turning point

The turning point of the contest came shortly after Ireland had got on the scoreboard, though, a mistake by Tommy Bowe giving away a penalty try deep into injury time.

Referee Mark Lawrence ruled that the Opsreys winger had deliberately palmed a loose ball into touch near his own line, a momentum-changing call that put the visitors into a seven-point lead they certainly deserved.

In truth the All Blacks could well have been further ahead had they taken any of the plethora of chances they created in the opening 40 minutes.

Only a desperate tackle by Luke Fitzgerald stopped Mils Muliaina after the full-back opted to go it alone rather than pass on to an unmarked Joe Rokocoko.

Carter was also guilty of missing out on points, the fly-half twice failing to land relatively straightforward penalties that he would normally knock over for fun.

Eventually the fly-half found the target to break the deadlock, though the lead did not last too long as O'Gara replied, despite Alan Quinlan appearing to stamp on Rodney So'oialo in the build-up to Ireland being awarded a penalty.

Bowe off

However, the official did not miss Bowe's slight of hand to stop Richie McCaw just before the break, Carter landing the simple conversion.

To make matters even worse for Ireland the offender was sent to the sin bin, though the numbers were even two minutes into the second half when Tony Woodcock was yellow carded for punching Rory Best.

O'Gara missed the long-range penalty that followed and from then on the reigning Tri-Nations champions simply moved through the gears, managing to play their best rugby while a man down.

Centre Nonu strolled over for a try and then Thorn took a long pass before bulldozing through Bowe, who had only just returned to the field, for a quick-fire second.

In the end only some careless errors stopped New Zealand adding any further points as they maintained the unbeaten record of the Southern Hemisphere sides currently on tour in Europe. Next up for Graham Henry's all-conquering side is a clash with Wales in Cardiff.