A version of this article was published in the Irish Examiner on Saturday, November 23rd 2013.

New Zealand dispatched the English last week and will arrive at Lansdowne Road on Sunday looking for their fourteenth consecutive test win in a calendar year. How bad might it get for the Irish?

This current group of All Blacks is on a historically good pace. The record for consecutive test wins involving at least one Tier 1 team is 17, jointly held by New Zealand (1965-69) and South Africa (1997-98). In just the last four years New Zealand have approached this mark twice; 15 consecutive wins in 2009-10 followed by 16 consecutive wins in 2011-12. The 2013 All Blacks have the look of a team on the march towards the record once more, winning 13 tests in a row and having been ahead at half time in every one of those games.

The All Blacks gave a masterclass in efficiency in beating England last Saturday. They kicked from play more than their opponents (12% to 8%), conceded both possession (38%) and territory (40%) and still outscored England by three tries to one. Despite England having 135 carries in the game they didn’t manage a single line break. The game plan for this New Zealand side is relatively simple: soak up opposition pressure and, when opportunity strikes, score tries with ruthless efficiency.

Of course line breaks aren’t everything; even though they were outscored four tries to zero Ireland managed 12 line breaks last week as opposed to just six from Australia. The difference lay in Australia’s support play, which was clinical. While Ireland were at times able to put somebody through a gap support was too often late in arrival and the chances were lost.

In defence, tackling is somewhat of a prerequisite. Not all tackles are the same, just as not all missed tackles are necessarily costly. After all, a defender needs to work to get to the tackle area in the first place and there is usually at least some value in their mere presence at the scene. Last weekend Ireland’s 15 missed tackles, from just 72 attempts, were of the more costly variety. A full nine Irish misses led to line breaks or tries with three of Ireland’s four tries conceded coming after not one but two missed tackles.

What of the great men in black? New Zealand had 16 missed tackles from 168 attempts last week. Total line breaks and tries resulting from a missed All Black tackle? Zero. Every single England player who was missed in a tackle was tackled by the next black jersey.

Ireland can make all the line breaks they want on Sunday against the All Blacks but if that man breaking into the New Zealand rearguard doesn’t have a green-shirted comrade following on his shoulder it might not mean much on the scoreboard.

Last weekend both Australia and New Zealand offered lessons on how to soak up opposition attacks while exploiting their own scoring opportunities to the fullest.

Let’s hope Ireland were taking notes.

Credit: playing stats courtesy of Opta