Ireland beat All Blacks in New Zealand for first time

A disciplined and clinical Ireland beat the All Blacks on New Zealand soil for the first time on Saturday with a deserved 23-12 victory in Dunedin, taking full advantage after the hosts had lost Angus Ta'avao to a red card in the first half.

Prop Andrew Porter scored two tries and skipper Johnny Sexton added 13 points from the kicking tee as Ireland squared the three-match series 1-1 ahead of next week's decider in Wellington.

Ireland had played 13 tests in New Zealand without success before taking to the field under the Otago Stadium roof to hand the All Blacks their first home defeat since South Africa won in Wellington in 2018.

"Delighted, no team has ever done it before," Sexton said. "We're delighted with the win but we have a chance to win a series here, and they don't come along too often."

New Zealand's discipline cost them dear with two yellow cards in addition to Ta'avao's red in the first half, and they had to be satisfied with triesclose to the end of each half from Beauden Barrett and Will Jordan.

"They're a quality outfit and they bounced back in a big way tonight," said All Blacks captain Sam Cane. "They were too good."

As in their 42-19 loss in Auckland last week, the Irish tore into the All Blacks from the start and Porter crossed after a series of clinical raids on the home try line.

Sexton added a penalty after 14 minutes and the disciplinary problems soon started for the home side when Leicester Fainga'anuku was shown a yellow card for high contact on fellow winger Mack Hansen.

Prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi joined Fainga'anuku in the sin bin after 25 minutes with the All Blacks perhaps fortunate that his early tackle on Garry Ringrose did not result in a penalty try.

Their luck did not hold and on the half-hour mark Ta'avao, on as prop replacement for Tu'ungafasi, clattered head-first into centre Ringrose's face and was shown a red card.

All Blacks number eight Ardie Savea was forced off the field when Tu'ungafasi returned but New Zealand hit back before halftime on their first foray deep into the Irish half.

They hammered away at the line before flyhalf Barrett fortuitously got a boot on the ball, which went through the legs of a defender and enabled him to touch down.

Ireland lock James Ryan was shown a yellow card during the All Blacks siege, leaving both sides with 14 men for the first 10 minutes after the break.

The visitors were 17-7 ahead by the time Ryan returned after another impressive multi-phase wave of attacks resulted in Porter barging his way over the line for his second try.

The All Blacks came back at them but Sexton kept the scoreboard ticking over with two more penalties that stretched the lead to 16 points.

New Zealand kept battering away at the Irish defence in the final 10 minutes and finally managed to get the ball to winger Jordan in space with two minutes left on the clock.

Six years after their first victory over the All Blacks in more than a century of trying, Ireland have now won four of the last seven encounters with the three-times world champions.