Ireland coach Declan Kidney said the opening half-hour was the catalyst for his side's 22-3 defeat by New Zealand.
The hosts only trailed 3-0 at that stage but had struggled to gain any territory against the All Blacks.
"You can run away with all the things that happened in the second half but the foundations for that were laid in the first 30 minutes," Kidney said.
"We allowed a lot of our own energy to be soaked up and we spent a lot of time in our own half."
The Ireland coach had no major complaint with Mark Lawrence's decision to award a penalty try in first-half injury time, but agreed that it was a key moment in the game.
"We were 3-3 just coming into the end of the first half," he noted.
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"Not only were we hit with the seven points but we had the man in the bin (Tommy Bowe) as well and it was going to make the start of the second half that bit more difficult.
"We never managed to get a foothold in their half.
"And while we have to give credit to New Zealand and we have a lot of respect for them, we have to take a look at ourselves.
"There are a lot of things that we can do that we didn't do on the day."
New Zealand coach Graham Henry was satisfied that South African referee Mark Lawrence had made the correct decision in awarding a penalty try.
"That's the law - the referee just applied the rule. It was good for us at the time," he said.
"Any try just before half-time has an influence on the game."
Henry added: "We're pleased with the result. The guys played well and we dominated the game most of the time.
"We played with tempo but were frustrated that we created chances that we didn't finish. A couple of tries went begging.
"Our defence was excellent, the best of the tour so far, and we got a lot of turnover ball.
"Ireland played as well as they were allowed to. I imagine they went out with a more expansive gameplan."
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