An experimental Ireland XV suffered a summer tour awakening against the dominant Maori All Blacks, who triumphed 32-17 on Wednesday.
Andy Farrell fielded five uncapped players for the warm-up match and was left with plenty to ponder following the resounding defeat.
The hosts came out firing and raced to a 32-10 first-half lead after notching up four tries in Hamilton, courtesy of Zarn Sullivan, Shaun Stevenson, Brad Weber and Cullen Grace. Fly-half Josh Ioane added the extras for three of those, plus two penalty kicks.
Ireland stand-in captain Bundee Aki charged through for Ireland's opening try before Gavin Coombes grabbed the only score of the second half with a crossing, but they were ultimately let down by a high penalty count despite an improved second half. Leinster's Ciaran Frawley, who started at fly-half, added to Ireland's points tally with two conversions and a successful penalty kick.
Head coach Farrell will quickly turn his attention to Saturday's opening Test of a three-match series with the formidable All Blacks in Auckland, where he will field a much-changed team and hope for a far greater showing.
Few, if any, of his fringe players emerged with much credit from a cool, wet evening at FMG Stadium Waikato. Back-rower Coombes was arguably the star performer, while uncapped prop Jeremy Loughman, in-form centre James Hume and replacement Cian Healy each departed with injuries to add to Ireland's woes. Loughman lined up alongside fellow international rookies Ciaran Frawley, Jimmy O'Brien, Joe McCarthy and Cian Prendergast in a starting XV which contained just three men with more than six Test caps.
Frawley, who kicked seven points during the contest, traded early penalties with rival fly-half Ioane as both sides attempted to get to grips with slippery conditions which contributed heavily to possession frequently changing hands.
Sullivan dived over on the right for the opening try in the 17th minute after his perfectly weighted 50:22 kick had initially put Ireland in trouble. The visitors swiftly responded with a fine set-piece move.
A superb tip-on pass from Coombes took out Cameron Suafoa and Billy Harmon, allowing centre Aki to break the line and use the wet surface to slide underneath the posts for an emotional score on the ground where he formerly played for Super Rugby club the Chiefs. That proved to a high point of a chastening outing.
Following Frawley's conversion, the unforgiving Maoris - who began with 10 debutants - took control of the scoreboard by capitalising on a string of errors. Ioane was becoming increasingly influential and, having added his second penalty of the match, twice converted after being heavily involved in scores for Shaun Stevenson and captain Brad Weber.
Indiscipline and indecision were undermining Irish hopes. They were further punished just before the interval as the pacey Stevenson scythed clear from just outside his own 22, culminating in Cullen Grace dotting down and Ioane adding the extras to leave the visitors 32-10 behind.
Munster forward Loughman, who was forced off inside two minutes before initially returning following a head injury assessment, was permanently replaced by veteran Healy at the break.
Ireland resumed with renewed purpose but were repeatedly held up on the line, including the unfortunate Nick Timoney. Hume limped off in what appeared to a lot pain before the visitors finally made a further dent on the scoreboard as Coombes bulldozed over 13 minutes from time in a stop-start second period.
Healy then departed with a serious-looking issue, leaving Farrell seemingly short at loosehead heading to Eden Park to begin a trilogy of showdowns with New Zealand.
Speaking after the final whistle, Aki said: "Fair play to the All Blacks, they came out firing. We couldn't get our game going and they deservedly won. We got a lot of learnings out of this game. There's a lot of new guys here, we'll learn and build on it for the rest of the series."
Ireland will now face the All Blacks this Saturday, July 2, at Auckland's Eden Park (8.05am kick-off UK time) in the first of three summer Tests against Ian Foster's side, while an Ireland XV team will face the Maori All Blacks again on Tuesday, July 12.
Maori All Blacks: Zarn Sullivan; Shaun Stevenson, Billy Proctor, Rameka Poihipi, Connor Garden-Bachop; Josh Ioane, Brad Weber (co-capt); Ollie Norris, Kurt Eklund, Tyrel Lomax; Josh Dickson, Isaia Walker-Leawere; Cameron Suafoa, Billy Harmon, Cullen Grace.
Replacements: Tyrone Thompson, Tamaiti Williams, Jermaine Ainsley, Maanaki Selby-Rickit, TK Howden, TJ Perenara, Ruben Love, Bailyn Sullivan.
Ireland: Jimmy O’Brien; Jordan Larmour, James Hume, Bundee Aki (capt), Keith Earls; Ciarán Frawley, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Dave Heffernan, Tom O’Toole; Kieran Treadwell, Joe McCarthy; Cian Prendergast, Nick Timoney, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Niall Scannell, Cian Healy, Finlay Bealham, Ryan Baird, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Joey Carbery, Michael Lowry.
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