Paul O’Connell and Joe Schmidt left devastated by this painful defeat

Paul O’Connell’s demeanour, that deep set frown across his massive brow, revealed more than words possibly could.

Same goes for Joe Schmidt’s quiet, polite responses. The eyes told us everything you need to know about hurt.

It was a grim sight, two proud men trying to make sense of the most crushing loss.

But O’Connell and Schmidt talk better than most.

Certainly, the 95 Test veteran lacks the ability to err on the side of bullshit. His performance was everything it could be, a return from the injury cursed recent times. 13 tackles, one more than an inspired Devin Toner, a lineout masterclass and his mauling was delivery of an unspoken promise to lead by example.

But none of that matters.

That final penalty, coughed up by Jack McGrath for going off his feet, was miles from the Ireland try-line. Also, the defence had time to realign as Richie McCaw was pulled back by Nigel Owens for taking it quickly from the wrong place.

The All Blacks didn’t even consider the touchline. Tap and go for broke. The winning mentality in technicolour.

“When we gave away that final penalty we were [over] 60 metres from our line so I would have been very confidant with the way we were defending that we would hold them out at that stage so, you know, it’s really disappointing.

“There was a very good feeling in the camp all week . . .”

Balancing of talent
O'Connell went on to commend the accuracy, detail and balancing of talent while playing with "intensity and attitude and emotion."

“And we got all that . . . But you have to give credit to New Zealand’s character as well.”

To both O’Connell and Schmidt, the conversion of Ryan Crotty’s try that Owens allowed Aaron Cruden to re-take to ensure the perfect 14 victories from 14 games in 2013, meant nothing. To hell with 1973 and the Tom Grace try in the corner for a 10-all draw.

To them, in the context of yesterday, a draw is the same as defeat.

“We wouldn’t have to deal with it if we had of defended from the penalty,” said O’Connell.

“We could’ve avoided any hassle if we had of defended them so it is kind of irrelevant.”

The problem was endurance. By the end, the All Blacks had broken too many Irish players.

Schmidt described his team as “piecemeal” by those last few moments, and it was very apparent that too many wounded had to remain in the fight. For one, Seán Cronin was certainly injured but Rory Best’s broken arm meant the wounded hooker had to continue.

It all mattered as New Zealand stretched the green line from one side of the pitch to the other.

“The defence at the end is massively disappointing but I think it is accumulative,” said Schmidt. “We made a lot of tackles in the second half. I think that started to show. We had a lot of guys who were out on their feet. A couple of guys had been knocked around a bit. We were hanging on by a thread and the thread was too thin to make sure we did stop them.”

Jonathan Sexton’s hamstring had tightened, Cian Healy was also forced off and Brian O’Driscoll too. All huge figures in Ireland’s defensive system, you only miss them when they are gone.

“To be one minute away from history and have the ball in our hands on their 10 metre line,” Schmidt lamented. “Yeah, devastating.”

Mentally tough
What New Zealand coach Steve Hansen said about Ireland not believing they are as mentally tough as they really are, was put to O'Connell.

He literally didn’t understand the question so it was rephrased as maybe an issue of collective belief.

“They are further down the track than we are,” the captain responded. “They have been winning for a while, building for a while now.

“The South Africa game in Ellis Park, they were down a man and produced two tries, England last week, they have that momentum that comes from confidence. We probably haven’t got that yet. The belief that comes from confidence.

“Everything becomes a little easier when you have that confidence and that momentum.

“I think if you look at us on paper we are an excellent side. I think over the last number of years we haven’t produced that consistently, we haven’t combined the accuracy and the details with the intensity and the attitude that we need to.

“We did that today. I think we probably could be a little more accurate. Games of this intensity will help us.”

Green shoots of hope then. Like everybody has seen before.

“We’ve done this before in the last couple of years,” O’Connell agreed. “We’ve produced these big performances, full of accuracy and intensity we talked about, and haven’t followed it up.

“I think the onus falls on the players to maintain that standard.”

A wonderful chance has slipped away. That’s what lingers in the mind on this cold winter morning.