Brian O’Driscoll was heartened by his side performance against the All Blacks but reiterated his belief that Ireland must play at full steam for 80 minutes if they are to live with the best.
“We will take the positives,” the Ireland skipper said. “We did play some great stuff and we had them under the cosh for long periods of that first half. There were also far few unforced errors today.
“But the overall feeling is that we have played well for 60 to 70 minutes and have got punished for a couple of bad spells the two minutes before half-time and the 10 minutes after.
“We were chasing the game after that,” admitted O’Driscoll, who claimed Ireland’s second try when the match was already firmly in the All Blacks’ grasp.
All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw felt patience had been the key to his side’s triumph which keeps them on course for an autumn grand slam.
“We had to work hard for it,” said McCaw. “I’m proud of the way the guys played. We were playing some good rugby and I knew if we were patient and hung on to the ball we would get our opportunities. It was a good tough Test match with both teams ready to have a crack.”
McCaw’s men have seen off England, Scotland and Ireland and will be looking to complete a clean sweep of victories against Wales next weekend.
“We have another big challenge next week but we will enjoy this win first,” added McCaw.