Crotty: We must learn from defeat

New Zealand must learn from their defeat in Chicago if they are exact revenge on Ireland on Saturday, Ryan Crotty believes.

Crotty broke Irish hearts in 2013 when he crossed over in the last minute to hand New Zealand victory but he was forced off after just 25 minutes of the game in Chicago after being struck down with a hamstring injury.

The injury meant he could only watch on from the sidelines as the All Blacks suffered a first-ever defeat to Ireland earlier this month.

The world champions will have the opportunity to make amends when the two nations renew rivalry at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening and Crotty believes the All Blacks will learn from the mistakes they made at Soldier Field.

"It's a proud moment for an Irish team and a lot of Irish people, you can be very proud of your team," Crotty told reporters at Castleknock College.

"We just got a few things wrong and Ireland played really well. It's good that we can take some learning from that. It’s important that we do that and put it into play this weekend. There are a couple of learnings from the last ten minutes that we can take in to this game. It's a blessing in disguise that we can learn from them.

"The All Blacks always believe that, no matter what the score, if there's a minute or two left, we can get the job done."

Ireland's win brought an end to New Zealand's 18-Test unbeaten record and Ben Smith admits they were 'beaten to the punch' by Joe Schmidt's side.

"We have got to give Ireland a lot of credit for the way that they've played and the way they performed. They beat us to the punch," Smith is quoted as saying in the Irish Examiner.

"We have the Irish team a lot of credit for how they played in Chicago. We got beaten to the punch and beaten by a better team on the day so obviously it's been a good couple of weeks for Ireland.

"I think the way that Ireland played the last time, they put us under a lot of pressure so we've got to get things right and that's just going to have to be through our preparation.

"So we're going to have to have a good look at that and make sure that we prepare really well because we know it's going to be a really good contest come Saturday."

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