All square at half time in Wellington

In atrociously wet conditions at Welligton’s Westpac Stadium, Ireland and New Zealand are tied 8 points apiece thanks to a Paddy Wallace try and Ronan O’Gara penalty.

O’Gara opened the scoring with a penalty after nine minutes after the Blacks had been penalised for ‘hands in the ruck’ but seven minutes later the home side went in front when Sivivatu scored a try after Ireland had turned over ball and Conrad Smith had burned the Irish midfield.

That lead lasted all of five minutes because when the All Blacks messed up the kick-off it gave Ireland good field position and O’Gara cleverly switched play to put Paddy Wallace in for a try (5-8).

Under severe pressure in the 31st minute Ireland were probably happy enough to see David Wallace penalised for coming in from the side and an out of sorts looking Dan Carter landed his first successful kick to tie the game (8-8). 

New Zealand: M Muliaina (Waikato Chiefs); A Tuitavake (Auckland Blues), C Smith (Wellington Hurricanes), M Nonu (Wellington Hurricanes), S Sivivatu (Waikato Chiefs); D Carter (Caterbury Crusaders), A Ellis (Canterbury Crusaders); N Tialata (Wellington Hurricanes), A Hore (Wellington Hurricanes), J Afoa (Auckland Blues), B Thorn (Canterbury Crusaders), A Williams (Canterbury Crusaders), R So’oialo (Wellington Hurricanes), R McCaw (Canterbury Crusaders, capt), J Kaino (Auckland Blues). Replacements: K Mealamu (Auckland Blues), J Schwalger (Wellington Hurricanes), A Boric (Auckland Blues), A Thomson (Otago Highlanders), J Cowan (Otago Highlanders), S Donald (Waikato Chiefs), L MacDonald (Canterbury Crusaders).

Ireland: R Kearney (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), B O’Driscoll (Leinster, capt), P Wallace (Ulster), T Bowe (Ulster); R O’Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps); M Horan (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), D O’Callaghan (Munster), P O’Connell (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: R Best (Ulster), T Buckley (Munster), M O’Driscoll (Munster), S Jennings (Leinster), P Stringer (Munster), G Murphy (Leicester), G Dempsey (Leinster).

Referee : Chris White (England).