In Pictures: Ireland come within seconds of beating New Zealand

THE Irish rugby team came within seconds of recording a first win over New Zealand on Sunday in the Aviva Stadium before cruelly losing out 24-22.

It was a devestating loss, after Ireland had led from the second minute. Limerick’s Paul O’Connell played a captain’s part over the 80 minutes while Conor Murray scored the game’s opening try and Sean Cronin deputised superbly for Rory Best who was forced off injured after just 15 minutes.

We’ve picked out some of the best pictures from the game - and the aftermath - as captured by Sportsfile.