Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan said his side were heavily punished by South African referee Tappe Henning in Saturday's 40-8 second Test defeat by the All Blacks.

"I was unhappy with the refereeing," O'Sullivan said.

"We were hammered on the penalty count.

"There were two teams out there and we were the ones on the wrong side of the referee at the tackle ball.

"We competed for long periods but we couldn't get our hands on the ball," added the Irish coach.

John Mitchell, the All Black coach, said: "As the game went on we finally managed to get some dominance and that was pleasing."

Captain Reuben Thorne said the All Black scrum had been much tighter in the second test.

"We got much cleaner ball this week," he said.

"Our work over the week paid dividends and I was very happy with the performance.

"We're glad to come out on top and this competition will stand us in good stead for the Tri-nations."

Thorne, himself benefiting from a more prominent role in the game, said the All Blacks had made fewer mistakes than the first Test.

"It was a much improved effort. We were determined to lift our performance and it was better," added Thorne.

New Zealand's next Test is in Wellington against Fiji next Saturday night.