New Zealand 40-21 Ireland: All Blacks punish error-strewn Irish with win at Eden Park

National championship round three

New Zealand (28) 40

Will try. Tuipulotu, Savea, Jordan, Amua, McKenzie, Lienert-Brown Disadvantages: Love 5

Ireland (7) 21

Will try. Conan, McCarthy, Keenan Disadvantages: Prendergast 3

Ruthless New Zealand scored six tries to beat Ireland and end a 32-year unbeaten run in a largely one-sided Championship at Eden Park.

The All Blacks, who were victorious in France and Italy, capitalized on a number of Irish mistakes in the first half with Patrick Tupulutu, Ardi Savea, Will Jordan and Asafo Amua all crossing to secure the bonus point.

Jack Conan scored Ireland’s only first-half goal after Luke Jacobson was booked for a dangerous challenge on Josh van der Flier, while the New Zealand flanker avoided a red card following an offside review.

Irish tries from Joe McCarthy and Hugo Keenan either side of the impressive Damian McKenzie score raised hopes of defeat for the visitors.

However, Anton Leinert-Brown’s late score completed an emphatic win for the three-time world champions, extending their unbeaten Eden Park streak to 53 Tests.

Ireland will leave Auckland empty-handed after beating Australia and Japan in their opening two games and losing to New Zealand for the fourth time and will have to wait until November to get a good start in the first half.

New Zealand, on the other hand, will head into next month’s four-Test series in South Africa with confidence after taking a maximum of 15 points from their three national championship matches at home.

New Zealand captain Ardi Savia said: “Very proud of the boys for coming here tonight and putting in a performance like that.

“I think it’s all in the mindset, we talked about throwing the first punch, and you know we had to take the lead in the first five minutes, so that was the start.

“You have to give the Irish credit, they have real quality. But we will be motivated to get the win.”