Ruthless New Zealand punish off-pace Ireland

Ruthless New Zealand handed Ireland a harsh lesson in fortress Eden Park on Saturday morning.

Now unbeaten at the Auckland venue over 47 Tests since 1994, the All Blacks started slowly but once they found their rhythm they never looked like losing that record.

The visitors, who scored the opening try through Keith Earls, gave up four tries in a harrowing second quarter, which ended the game as a contest.

In addition, Ireland lost captain Johnny Sexton to a head injury and the 36-year-old is likely to be stood down for next week's Test.

Replacement hooker Dave Heffernan was also removed from the play with Ireland’s squad depth set to be severely tested in their remaining three matches.

In total, Ian Foster’s side, who were beaten 29-20 in Dublin last November, ran in six tries and at times it looked like men against boys as the visitors tried to hang on for dear life.

Andy Farrell's side couldn't have gotten off to a better start and opened the scoring with a superbly worked and executed try.

Sexton pumped the ball into the All Blacks half after an offside and from there worked a series of phases to expose the home defence.

With Peter O’Mahony and Caelan Doris offloading and stepping before the contact to create space, Ireland surged forward.

Dan Sheehan was heavily involved and Jamison Gibson-Park kept the tempo up, involving numerous willing runners.

Playing a penalty advantage, Garry Ringrose fed inside to Hugo Keenan, who scooped the ball out to Earls.

The Munster wing still had work to do but finished in trademark style for his 35th international try.

Ofa Tu'ungafasi and Sam Cane were feeling the hurt of two big tackles and Ireland were holding their own, albeit the set-piece started to creak once New Zealand got up to pace.

Howe