In the NZ-baiting Times, Stuart Barnes drags out most of the usual cliches about the end of All Black dominance and talks about New Zealand being 'The New Samoa' - now playing the role for the Northern Hemisphere clubs that the Pacific Islands supposedly (at least in the imaginations of UK hacks) has played for the All Blacks - supplying an assembly line of top shelf rugby talent for roving scouts. Barnes' over-arching point is that globalism and professionalism are slowly killing NZ's grand rugby traditions...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article4086187.ece

In his match report on the Irish-NZ test, Barnes says NZ "wrenched" the the game away from the "Brave Irish":

"If this is the best that New Zealand can muster then England - even a depleted England - should fancy their chances of coming away from their two Tests over the next fortnight with a drawn series, because this new-look All Black side is not a patch on the outfit that went into the 2007 World Cup as red-hot favourites," Barnes opines.     

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article4086095.ece

Providing a more even-handed assessment is Chris Hewett in the UK Independent, who notes that if ever Ireland were to beat New Zealand, this was the opportunity - given the battle-hardened all-Munster pack, the new untried All Black squad selected just a few days prior, the distractions of the Henry-Deans debate, the atrocious conditions at the Caketin   and the fact that that venue has proved the least successful home ground for NZ in recent years.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/new-zealand-21-ireland-11-carter-brilliant-but-irish-miss-glorious-chance-to-end-hoodoo-842446.html

Flying the NZ flag in the UK press and lambasting the continuing combination of bile and schadenfreude that British hacks reserve for the All Blacks is our only World Cup winning captain and (my former boss) Farfax Media CEO David Kirk, with this piece in the Daily Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/06/08/srkirk108.xml

Also in the Telegraph, Paul Ackford, in a reasonably argued piece apparently written before the Ireland test, argues that England are the strongest they have been in years and have a real chance of repeating their 2003 success against the All Blacks next weekend:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/06/08/srackf108.xml

In the Guardian/Observor, Eddie Butler says "the All Blacks flogged Ireland up front, picking and driving with a speed and power that would have brought a murmur of approval from Munstermen, were not so many of the Heineken Cup champions of Europe gritting their teeth and trying to stop the flow". Butler also ponders whether on the basis of his performance at the Caketin, Carter's new French employers are ruing offering him so much dosh...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jun/08/newzealandrugbyunionteam.irelandrugbyunionteam

Finally, in the Irish Times, Gerry Thornley says Ireland will "rue the one that got away":

http://www.ireland.com/sports/rugby/2008/0607/1212829542728.html?via=mr