The Irish found themselves 15-0 down within 13 minutes but rallied late on to mount a rousing comeback - thanks to a Paddy Wallace try and 23 points from the boot of Jonathan Sexton.

But Kidney, who fielded a completely different XV from the test thumping by New Zealand, was disappointed his side couldn’t scrape a result in Rotorua.

"After the first 15 minutes we worked our way back into it and we weren't going too bad,” said Kidney.

“We were up by a few points but we just couldn't close out the game. Maybe that shows a bit of our inexperience - I don't know.

"We made lots of changes and showed some belief in the fellas coming through. We'll learn lots from this tour from but for now it's just disappointing.

"Last week was extraordinary, a tonking really. So all the different little areas we improved upon tonight we have to make sure we improve upon again next week.”

Ireland finish their tour down under by travelling to Brisbane for a one off test with Australia on June 26.