Winger Jordan Larmour scored two tries as Ireland's midweek side backed up the test team with a breakthrough of their own on Tuesday, beating the Māori All Blacks for the first time with a 30-24 victory in the final tour match in Wellington.
Māori All Blacks' Josh Moorby (C) is tackled by Ireland's Craig Casey (R) and Jeremy Loughman (L) during the second rugby match between the Māori All Blacks and Ireland. Photo: AFP / MARTY MELVILLE
Three days after the test side earned a first victory over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil, the second stringers rebounded from a 32-17 defeat two weeks ago for a maiden win in their fourth clash with the Māori All Blacks.
Flanker Nick Timoney and number eight Gavin Coombes also crossed and flyhalf Ciaran Frawley contributed 10 points with the boot as the tourists largely contained the free-running Māori All Blacks in a highly-disciplined performance.
The Māori All Blacks opened the scoring through Shaun Stevenson in the third minute and were awarded a penalty try just after halftime when Connor Garden-Bachop was tackled early.
The hosts scored the best try of the game 10 minutes from time when replacement back Ruben Love broke down the left flank and exchanged passes with Cullen Grace before touching down.
Another Love break in the closing seconds resulted in a try for replacement scrumhalf Brad Weber try but Larmour had already scored his second try two minutes from time to seal the victory.
The test team take on the All Blacks on Saturday at the same Wellington Stadium, where victory would give them a 2-1 series win.
- Reuters