“One minute to go! Each inch gained is so important! Each inch takes up a second! Luke Fitzgerald… on come the little charges by the [Irish] replacements!
“Penalty to New Zealand! 20 seconds to go! Aaron Smith takes it quickly. Ben Smith. One last defensive set to go through! Cruden… Kieran Read… back to Cruden. Beauden Barrett… hurled to the ground. Sam Whitelock…
“We’re into the red zone. 80 minutes is up on the clock! Ma’a Nonu. Ben Smith… Conor Murray still making his tackles! Owen Franks to brother Ben… Cruden… they’re queuing up out here! Kieran Read… Ben Smith… Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney bring him down! Away comes Nonu! Crotty with the ball… Cruden… Franks… Aaron Smith to Cruden, Savea… New Zealand so close to keeping their 100% year alive! Ma’a Nonu! Gordon Darcy brings him down!
“Ireland slow up the release… Cruden… Dane Coles… gets the pass away! It’s going to be the try!!!!!!!!! For Ryan Crotty. The final whistle has gone and players are littered across the field.”
All of that was said, all of that happened, in some 2 minutes and 24 seconds.
And so one piece of history was written, and another piece unwritten just as it was about to be penned. The date was 23 November 2013. Ireland v the All Blacks at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The All Blacks needed to win the match to post their first-ever 100% winning season. More importantly, the Irish needed to win because… because… well simply because they had never beaten the Kiwi side in 108 years.
As I wrote in a post-match Blog: “On that crisp winter’s day in Dublin the men in green were possessed of a spirit (and ability) so great that it seemed undeniable, irresistible, even to the legendary men in black from the land of the long white cloud. But deny and resist they did. Having trailed for precisely 79 minutes and 26 seconds (a rugby match is supposed to last exactly 80 minutes), the All Blacks secured the ball, interchanged it with the precision of a heart surgeon’s hands nearly 40 times between huge Kauri tree man-mountains and whippet-lean dancing sorcerers before striking a collective dagger through the heart of all Ireland with the winning try in the corner after two minutes and 24 seconds of ballet, brilliance and brute force.”
Guardian journalist Robert Kitson summed it up brilliantly, “From an Irish perspective this was like winning the lotto and then tossing the crucial ticket over the Cliffs of Moher.”
I recall being invited to that game by Aer Rianta International CEO Jack MacGowan but being unable to attend due to other commitments. Good thing too. “Lucky you didn’t make it,” he muttered to me the following Monday, “you may have been strung up.” I don’t think he was joking.
On Saturday these age-old foes go toe-to-toe once more, this time in the unlikely location of Chicago in the USA. Given the sheer magnitude of the Irish diaspora to America, it’s a fair bet that about 98% of the crowd will be cheering for the boys in green, roaring out The Fields of Athenry and Molly Malone. Can that factor finally help deliver a strong Irish team the moment they succour more than any other?
Despite my fondness for all things Irish (my mum, after all, was from Dublin) I say no, but I am outnumbered hopelessly by Irishmen in travel retail by about the same ratio as the spectator mix on Saturday, so don’t take my word for it. In fact, express your own. The Moodie Davitt Report (the Kiwi Moodie and the Irish Davitt) has got together with several leading Irish travel retail executives to throw in some great prizes for a pick the score competition this weekend.
The rules are simple:
- Pick the winning team (or draw) and predict a score (you must be directly connected to the travel retail industry to enter)
- The winner must choose the correct result and the closest entrant on total points differential (i.e. if the match ended 20-18 to the All Blacks, and you picked them to win 25-16 you would have a differential of 7) takes out the grand prize.
- Send your prediction to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com headed ‘All Blacks v Ireland showdown’
And here is the superb prize:
3 bottles of the outstanding Tito’s Handmade Vodka (produced in the Lone Star state of Texas, USA), compliments of its duty free specialist, Irishman Barry Geoghegan. Tito’s Handmade Vodka Managing Director International John McDonnell is Boston Irish, and his mother from Connemara.
A beautiful silver fern (New Zealand’s and the All Blacks’ national symbol) piece of Waterford jewellery from Ireland courtesy of Dubliner David Spillane and Global Travel Retail Sales, which handles the brand in travel retail.
3 bottles of Hunter’s Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, courtesy of the Moodie in The Moodie Davitt Report. Hunter’s was founded by Irishman Ernie Hunter, tragically killed in 1987 in a car accident. Plus, a gwp in the form of a limited-edition DVD of the 2013 Ireland-All Blacks match – in fact not just limited but also condensed (to the final 2 minutes and 34 seconds, of course).
- A chance to win a million dollars. Seriously! Courtesy of a ticket in Dubai Duty Free’s fabulous Millennium Millionaire prize draw, offering you the chance to win US$1 million in the subsequent prize draw. Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman Colm McLoughlin and Senior Vice President – Marketing Sinead El Sibai are both proudly Irish.
The Butlers Chocolate Platinum Collection (not even on shelf yet in duty free) courtesy of the Irish chocolate house’s Sales Director Karl Marnane.- Bernard Walsh of Walsh Whiskey Distillery has donated a bottle of each of the company’s signature whiskeys. The super-premium The Irishman 17yo is described as “a very limited-edition, superlative single malt from a single cask after maturation in one of just three first-fill sherry butts”. Also (possibly in recognition of an Ireland victory’s impact on a well-known Kiwi travel retail publisher) a bottle of the critically acclaimed Writers Tears – the brand’s ‘Copper Pot’, “a unique old Irish Pot Still whiskey” (a vatting of single malt and single pot still whiskeys).
- And, we suspect, more prizes to follow – come on you Kiwi companies, don’t let the Irish outshout us!
Can the boys in green finally conquer the men in black, shorn like new-born New Zealand lambs of their world-class second row pairing Whitelock and Retallick?
Playing in an atmosphere that will seem like a home game to the Irish and a distinctly foreign one for the Kiwis, this may be their greatest chance.
And how’s this for a portent? This week baseball’s Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series for the first time in, you guessed it, 108 years…
Will it be Ireland’s call? Will God defend New Zealand? Green? Or black? It’s time to make your choice.
Footnote: Just in case you need reminding of what happened on that fateful day back in 2013, you can watch the final pulsating moments on the video below [Health warning: Irish viewers should consult their doctor before consuming.]
