Ireland must twist the knife, says O'Connell

O'Connell said the game was there to be won. Picture / Reuters.

Inspirational lock Paul O'Connell was left lamenting Ireland rugby's lack of a killer instinct after letting victory slip from their grasp for a second week against the All Blacks.

O'Connell was in no mood to talk up another brave but fruitless Irish performance following the 17-27 loss at Eden Park here last night.

"It was a typical Irish attitude. We went after the game but didn't go after the jugular like we should do," he said.

"In the second half I think maybe sometimes we were hoping for a bit of individual brilliance rather than going for it as a 15."

With O'Connell leading another torrid forward effort, Ireland closed a 0-17 deficit to 17-20 with 30 minutes remaining.

He said that was the time for the pack to lift another gear but instead they looked hopefully to game-breaking backs such as Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy.

"The game was there to be won. We went after it 95 per cent but I don't think we went after it 100 per cent," he said.

"We needed to make things happen as a forward unit.

"When you have guys like O'Driscoll and D'Arcy in the team, you can take a ball off the top of the lineout and take a look up and see what happens.

"If we can recognise that as a team, I think these two weeks, while being a massive disappointment, can help us in our road to the World Cup."

O'Connell's reputation took a dent on last year's tour to New Zealand by the British and Irish Lions.

But he was sadly missed by the Irish when the All Blacks crushed them in Dublin last year and was an obvious leader in both tests here.

He won nine lineouts last night and again disrupted New Zealand's ball.

Ireland's other world class figure, centre Brian O'Driscoll, said the fightback underlined again the spirit within his team.

"It's a good trait but it's a lot easier when you don't go 17 points down," he said.

"This team has really moved on in the last couple of years. We don't accept mediocrity or close losses, that's no good for us.

"Perhaps Irish teams might have been guilty of accepting close defeats as a reasonable result. That's not the case with this team."

Ireland end their three-match tour against Australia in Perth on Saturday and O'Driscoll did not believe another narrow loss last night would have sapped the will of his teammates.

"I'd like to think it will make us a little bit hungrier," he said.

- NZPA