But tries from Alex Cuthbert and Laulala, as well as the boot of Scotland fly-half Dan Parks, helped swing the game in the Welsh sides favour and they ran out 26-20 winners.
And the centre admits patience is indeed a virtue as he and his fellow Blues troops had to wait for the right opening in the second half to turn the tables on their Irish rivals.
"We knew we had the dominance at the end of the first half," Laulala said.
"It was a case of coming out and finishing it off in the second half after the good work of our forwards.
"We spoke before this game about how we should do it for ourselves. That's what we did. It's up to us to show we are doing it for ourselves."
And Laulala's sentiments were echoed by Blues captain Paul Tito, who had some special words for his All Black match-winner.
"We started really well in the second half scoring two quick tries and we held on well after that," Tito said.
"Casey is a special player and we gave him the ball he deserves in the second half. But we have to do that a bit more often."
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