The Stats Don't Lie: Captain fantastic leads yet again

Richie McCaw was the leading All Black at the breakdown with 34 arrivals, and second best ball carrier with eight. Photo / Getty Images

Stats guru Tracey Nelson crunches the numbers from the All Blacks 42-10 win over Ireland at Eden Park.

Julian Savea had a dream debut scoring a hat trick of tries, becoming the first All Black to do so against Ireland. His try-scoring effort on debut is eclipsed only by Sitiveni Sivivatu's four tries against Fiji in 2005. Christian Cullen also scored a hat trick on his debut v Samoa in 1996.

Brodie Retallick played a total of 52 minutes and in that time was in the first three to breakdown 27 times, made five tackles, two ball carries for a gain of 10 metres, took one lineout throw, and conceded one penalty in the tackle for not releasing the ball.

Richie McCaw was the leading All Black at the breakdown with 34 arrivals, and second best ball carrier with eight. He was also the top tackler with nine tackles and four assists, followed by Dan Carter with nine tackles and two assists.

Conrad Smith had a busy game with seven tackles and four assists, eight arrivals to the breakdown, and scoring a try - his third against Ireland.

Sean O'Brien was the leading tackler for Ireland with a total of 18, followed by James Heaslip and Donnacha Ryan with 13 each. Ireland missed a total of 11 tackles while the All Blacks missed just three.

Victor Vito was the leading ball carrier for the All Blacks with nine carries for a total of thirty five metres in his 46 minutes on the field. He was also in the first three to the breakdown on 21 occasions, and completed five tackles and two assists.

The All Blacks knocked the ball on 10 times, the worst offender being Kieran Read with three, followed by McCaw and Sonny Bill Williams with two each.

It was 100 percent at the lineout for the All Blacks, Sam Whitelock was their top jumper with six takes while Kieran Read took three. Ireland's lineout was marred by just the one not-straight throw, with the remainder of their nine throws all won.

The All Blacks had the upper hand when it came to scrums, winning the only tighthead of the game and forcing Ireland to concede a penalty and two free kicks on their own feed. Adam Thomson scored his fifth test try from the All Blacks' sixth scrum of the match.

The All Blacks conceded 10 penalties in this game, with Aaron Smith and Ali Williams each conceding two ruck penalties. Only two of the All Blacks' penalties were conceded in their own 22.

Ireland also conceded 10 penalties, with four conceded in their own 22. They were also lucky not to concede a yellow card when Darren Cave held Conrad Smith back following a linebreak by Aaron Cruden - it was Ireland's second penalty of the match for holding back a player.

- For more stats to go haka.co.nz