Ireland 7 New Zealand 45: Almost an hour into this match Ireland forced a rare turnover on their own 10-metre line, went through three phases to take play just over the halfway line and were held up.
Referee Jonathan Kaplan signalled a scrum to the home team. Ireland were losing 31-0 and a good portion of the West Stand cheered. Ireland were living off morsels and we were all grateful for them.
Coming away from the ground, the crowd could only have felt as dumbstruck, dispirited and perhaps even depressed as the players. The Almighty Blacks had given Ireland one hell of a spanking in every facet of the game. Not only have they the best side in the world now, but there's a compelling case for saying they also have the second-best side on the planet.
So silent and somnolent was the atmosphere during the interval it resembled a wake. This had 60 or 70 writ large all over it, and Ireland were down on bended knee by the end in more ways than one.
A combination of Roy Maybank's video interpretations denied the Blacks another 12 or 14 points and also stymied their momentum, as did other missed opportunities and the usual raft of late replacements.
They were also grateful that Jonathan Kaplan kindly declined to go to Mr Maybank in adjudicating whether Marcus Horan had retained control of the ball in scoring what was the definitive example of a consolation try in injury time.
But for that Ireland would have drawn their first blank since the 33-0 defeat in the Battle of Pretoria seven years ago, and their first at Lansdowne Road since a 4-0 defeat to England in 1977.
Afterwards "men against boys" was doing the rounds, much like the bad old days.
New Zealand's stronger scrum, which seemed to do pretty much what they pleased, stunningly quick ball off the top of the lineout and ruthless clearing out of the ball in contact were bad enough from Ireland's standpoint. But then there was the pressure at virtually every point, whether pushing up aggressively in defence or contesting line-outs. They gave nothing cheaply. It was remorseless.
Most of all, the head-to-head combat was utterly unequal, virtually every All Black possessing more strength, pace, handling skill and, crucially - as was shown during the Lions series - vastly better footwork.
It meant, again, that they took on the one-on-one contests more on their terms.
Nobody could fault the Irish players for effort or bravery but it didn't help that the game plan exposed the unequal head-to-head contest. Ireland seemed intent on choosing Saturday, of all days, to play New Zealand at their own game, a game for which the All Blacks are light years better equipped.
Identifying a relative weakness - and these things were decidedly relative on the day - out wide off setpiece ball promised to reap a dividend in the third minute when O'Gara's skip pass enabled Geordan Murphy to set Tommy Bowe away. Had he seen Murphy's clever support run on the outside, it might have yielded a stunning try from deep.
Gordon D'Arcy, in particular, retained a capacity to stand up his man and take the tackle more on his terms, and Shane Horgan ran hard and was full of physical intent though his sluggish passing will give ammunition to those who believe he is more a winger than a centre at this level.
Denis Leamy and Johnny O'Connor were as culpable as anyone for the handling errors, but they put themselves about, O'Connor forcing a few turnovers, while Leamy's hard running was highlighted by one stunning pick-up at full tilt that sparked the pre-interval bout of pressure.
Curiously - and indicative of the lack of leadership sans Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Connell and Anthony Foley - the team with no points and struggling for tries opted not to kick for goal, whereas (thank the lords again) the team who had (tries and conversions) preferred to take three points.
The lines in the sand remain in the tight five, and as feared, Malcolm O'Kelly and Shane Byrne were off the pace.
But the most chronic failing in Ireland's ability to play a multi-skilled, ball-in-hand game is that they really only have two ball-carriers in their pack - Leamy and Marcus Horan. David Wallace would be another, but like Trevor Brennan and Bob Casey, he doesn't appear to be one of the coach's favourites, though there aren't many alternatives around.
Not once in the first half, with the wind blowing from the unoccupied North Terrace, did we see O'Gara put the ball in behind the wingers or test the Kiwi back three in the air, even though he's a world-class tactical kicker who masterminded and scored all the points in the recent autumnal wins over Australia, South Africa and Argentina.
Instead, the radical change in game plan from the conservative rugby of last season saw Ireland running the ball across the pitch - mostly inside their own half. But their alignment was extraordinarily flat. Hence, receivers were often either static or in front of the pass, contributing to eight knock-ons or misplaced/forward passes in the first 32 minutes against the team best equipped in the world to exploit turnover possession.
In stark contrast, when the All Blacks turned around with the wind behind them, they held their depth and width, running onto balls passed in front of them, with Aaron Mauger's wristy distribution pulling the strings like a master conductor.
Like Nicky Evans, he had an armchair, pressure-free ride around the old ground. Unlike the Springboks' template, Ireland favour a drift defence, which was strikingly soft out wide, almost retreating before contact.
When Leamy said "Sod this" and broke the line he actually forced a handling error, although this led to the telling sight of an Irish winger, Anthony Horgan, being caught from behind by a debutant All Black lock, Jason Eaton, plucked from NPC rugby.
It doesn't help that the All Blacks get away with more than anyone else, be it forward passes or, as happened on Saturday, diving in at the breakdown with impunity. Jonathan Kaplan is a class referee, and unfortunately ensured a ceaseless flow to the game that many a Northern Hemisphere referee would have stopped, but in that and not punishing Ma'a Nonu with at least a yellow card for spearing D'Arcy, he folded a little too.
But as O'Sullivan maintained afterwards, Kaplan's performance had little bearing on the result.
He was right about that.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 10 mins: Sivivatu try, Evans con 0-7; 21: Williams try 0-12; 26: Evans pen 0-15; 35: Evans pen 0-18; 40: Sivivatu try, Evans con 0-25 (half-time 0-25); 45: Evans pen 0-28; 47: Evans pen 0-31; 70: Howlett try, Evans con 0-38; 79: Howlett try, Evans con 0-45; 83: Horan try, Humphreys con 7-45.
IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester); T Bowe (Ulster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), S Horgan (Leinster), A Horgan (Munster), R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), S Byrne (Saracens), J Hayes (Munster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster); S Easterby (Llanelli, capt), J O'Connor (Wasps), D Leamy (Munster). Replacements: S Best (Ulster) for Hayes, M McCullough (Ulster) for O'Kelly (both 64 mins); R Best (Ulster) for Byrne, N Best (Ulster) for Easterby, D Humphreys (Ulster) for O'Gara (all 76 mins). Unused: K Campbell (Ulster), G Dempsey (Leinster).
NEW ZEALAND: L MacDonald (Crusaders); D Howlett (Blues), M Nonu (Hurricanes), A Mauger (Crusaders), S Sivivatu (Chiefs), N Evans (Highlanders), P Weepu (Hurricanes); T Woodcock (Blues), K Mealamu (Blues), J Afoa (Blues); J Eaton (Taranaki), A Williams (Blues); S Lauaki (Chiefs), R McCaw (Crusaders, capt), M Tuiali'i (Crusaders). Replacements: S Taumoepeau (Blues) for Woodcock, A Hore (Hurricanes) for Mealamu, J Cowan (Southland) for Weepu (Hurricanes) (all 64 mins); R So'oialo (Blues) for McCaw (76 mins). Unused: C Hayman (Highlanders), C Jack (Crusaders), M Muliaina (Blues).
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (New Zealand).
