New Zealand legend Sean Fitzpatrick has said that Saturday’s match between “arguably the two best teams in the world” was the most physical he has seen in a long time, and insisted the All Blacks are not a dirty side.
Fitzpatrick, with 92 international caps to his name, launched a staunch defence of his compatriots amidst criticism of their tackling in particular.
Kiwi duo Malakai Fekitoa and Sam Cane were both cited following the 21-9 victory over Ireland on Saturday.
And New Zealand have been heavily criticised in Ireland following the match at the Aviva Stadium, as Cane’s tackle on Robbie Henshaw ended his involvement, while Fekitoa was yellow carded for a tackle on Simon Zebo.
However, Fitzpatrick, echoing comments by Tony Ward, has insisted the All Blacks "are not a dirty team".
Fitzpatrick told RTÉ Sport: “You’ve got arguably the two best teams in the world and they play a similar style of rugby.
“It’s not a complicated game plan. They re-cycle the ball pretty quickly and I’m sure you’ll appreciate in that first three to five minutes before Fekitoa’s first try, was for me probably the most outstanding passage of play I’ve seen for a long time - in terms of the intensity.
“It’s was probably the most physical game I’ve seen for a long time and you’re going to have instances that people are going to question, and that’s why the citing commissioner has been involved.
“I don’t condone foul play, but the All Blacks, I can assure you, are not a dirty team.”
Fitzpatrick then highlighted the quality of recent close encounters between the sides, paying tribute to the coaching skills of Joe Schmidt and Steve Hansen.
He continued: “When you look back at the last three games - right back to 2013 – what an amazing game that was and Chicago was similar.
“I think on Saturday night we saw a different type of game where it was just so intense and the two coaches... that for me was the exciting thing, leading up to the game wondering what game plan was the coaches going to produce.
“And I think Joe Schmidt and Steve Hansen – we need to take the hat off to them for producing two teams that honestly, as I’ve said, I just think that they’re both outstanding teams and we’ve seen three wonderful games.”
Ireland, who have moved up to fourth in the world rankings, thanks in part to Italy's win over South Africa, host Australia in the final of the November Tests at Lansdowne Road on Saturday at 5.30pm, live on RTÉ2.
