Ireland feel the chill

Ireland interim coach Michael Bradley was left to rue another one that got away after New Zealand extended their winning run against them with a 21-11 victory in bitterly cold, wet and windy conditions in Wellington.

Locked at 8-8 at half-time after tries by All Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu and Ireland's inside centre Paddy Wallace and a penalty apiece to Daniel Carter and Ronan O'Gara, the match turned in the 64th minute when New Zealand midfielder Ma'a Nonu burst through the visitors' defence to score.

It was a score Bradley described as a "moment of genius" and was the decisive blow which killed off any hopes the Irish had of victory in this one-off Test.

"I thought we stayed in the game and in the first couple of minutes we possibly would have been over the line twice but for the bounce of the ball, and that maybe would have been enough to carry us for the entire match on the basis of the conditions," Bradley said.

"But to their credit the All Blacks stuck at it as well, and they were patient and it probably took one moment of genius to create the critical line break in the second half.

"It was a difficult position (10 points down) to come back from with the conditions and the quality of the opposition with 15, 20 minutes to go.

"We have a very disappointed dressing room because we thought we had a really good chance to beat New Zealand, and we haven't beaten New Zealand yet as a country, so it remains a target for us and we move forward from that."

Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll admitted conditions had not helped either side.

"It was a bit of a liability having the ball at times. It's not often you get a game like that but you've got to play to the conditions to the best of your ability and it turned into just a bit of a kicking game and trying to chase after it," he said.

"They were horrible conditions to play a Test match but sometimes you get them and it's disappointing to push it as hard as we did, with the intensity we had, and to slip up at once at that line break and be punished."

New Zealand coach Graham Henry was thrilled with his side's performance in the difficult circumstances, particularly the forwards, against a team that far outweighed his men in terms of experience and caps.

"I'm very proud of the way the guys played. I thought they played with a huge amount of heart and character," he enthused.

"I thought the forwards played particularly well at the set-piece and had the better of the forward battle which is a major achievement because the Irish side had a lot of caps and was a very experienced pack.

"It was difficult conditions to play in and the game becomes a bit of a lottery. I'm proud of the way they hung in in difficult conditions and did the job."