'We never came close' - Wallace

DAVID WALLACE'S body language articulated his frustration. The weariness that envelops body and soul in the wake of disappointing days on a pitch was evident as the Ireland flanker tried to reconcile Irish ambition with a crushingly disjointed performance.

A passionate and expectant crowd at Croke Park wanted to fully partake in a potentially great occasion for Irish rugby, but long before the final whistle that fervour had dissipated, replaced by a numbing realisation that Ireland were going to finish second best; and by some distance at that.

Losing is a fact of sporting life but it is often the manner that makes a defeat, if not palatable, then less bitter to the taste.

Wallace had just left a quiet dressing-room where disappointment hovered like a pall, where bruised pride smarted far more than soft tissue injuries. Ireland rightly covet some elbow room at world rugby's top table but to get it requires substance to complement aspiration.

Days like Saturday offer a reality check. Wallace sighed: "Everyone is a bit down. We never came close to scoring. That's a bit hard to swallow at the moment. We were under a lot of pressure for a lot of the game.

"We held out for a good bit of the first half and it was hard to take conceding the penalty try. I presume it was having not seen it. We would have been going in at 3-3 otherwise so the most disappointing aspect of that half was conceding that score at that time."

Wallace was well aware it would have represented a travesty for the All Blacks to have gone in level at half-time given the gulf in possession and territory. Had Ireland not conceded the penalty try they might well have bounced their way off the pitch. It would have been a significant psychological fillip to have survived without actually playing anywhere near the levels of which this Irish team is capable.

Instead the interval discussion must have been dominated by technical and tactical instruction to try and negotiate the opening 10 minutes of the second half when Ireland would have been without Tommy Bowe.

Dogged, scrambling defence allows a team to survive but there is always a time limit attached. It's not possible to defend for large tranches of a match against arguably the most potent attacking team in world rugby, especially when New Zealand were dominant in contact.

Wallace conceded that Ireland's tackling hadn't been good enough. "They seemed to get through us quite easily. Maybe not making full breaks but getting that momentum through the contact and then playing off that.

"That is an area we will have to look at because you can not let teams do that to you. You have to stop them and smother them; especially a team like the All Blacks and also Argentina, who are next up. We probably didn't have a lot of territory. When you are missing your first up tackles and they are getting in behind you; it's hard to get out of your own half."

Wallace was one of Ireland's standout players on the day, decisive in the tackle and on hand to run a couple of excellent support lines. He also managed one great outside break but unfortunately these were cameos of unfulfilled promise.

The Munster player gave credit to the All Blacks, who on the rare occasions that their first up defensive line was breached, scrambled effectively.

"We did make line breaks but they were very good at getting into the channel to deny the pass or to intercept; basically cutting off the options and turning over the ball."

Ireland need to be cleverer in playing the referee. South Africa's Mark Lawrence penalised Irish players time and again for entering rucks from the side: whether he is right or wrong is immaterial. His interpretation is the only one that matters. Wallace accepted that rucks and rucking continues to be a bit of a grey area.

"It seems that they are cracking down in that area a little bit more, focusing on whether players are coming through the ruck."

There is no time to dwell on last Saturday as the spectre of Argentina looms. Ireland have to move on quickly. Wallace admitted: "Last week (against Canada) was a high point and this (losing to the All Blacks) is definitely a low. It's very early days and a whole new coaching staff. Everyone's learning to do things different ways.

"Everyone has bought into it (the new regime). Today there were more little knocks-on and things like that that crept into our game and that certainly doesn't help when you're trying to implement a game plan. We have to move on in one sense but it's important that we learn from today. The areas that we were weak in we have to step up for Saturday."

He'll cast a wistful look to Thomond Park tomorrow night when Munster take on the All Blacks but his primary focus is the national team. "You'd love to be involved but (Ireland) have an important game next week. It has to be our focus. You would like to think that we can absorb the lessons and secure a win."

"They seemed to get through us quite easily. Maybe not making full breaks but getting that momentum through the contact and then playing off that. That is an area we will have to look at because you can not let teams do that to you