British & Irish Lions
• What did the South Africans ever do for us?
Ireland Rugby
Ireland 3 – 22 New Zealand
The All Blacks marched on their Grand Slam tour with a comfortable first victory at Croke Park, tries from Ma’a Nonu and Brad Thorn ensured O’Driscoll 50th Test as captain didn’t end in a party.
Ireland were holding their own in the first half, but cynical play by Tommy Bowe in injury time awarded New Zealand a penalty try (and himself a yellow card), to leave Ireland 10-3 down at the break.
Tries for Nonu and Thorn sealed the game as Ireland rattled up the error count. It was probably not something Graham Henry expected after fielding his full strength side, including Carter and McCaw – but they barely broke a sweat.