Mighty All Blacks outlast Ireland in monumental Rugby World Cup quarterfinal،
PARIS – What a game. What a match. What a game.
The Rugby World Cup could play another 50 quarter-finals and not have another one as good as the ones that took place at the Stade de France on Saturday night as New Zealand and Ireland clashed for 80 exciting minutes that will be remembered for a long time.
It was a competition worthy of a final. Or 10 finals.
Regardless of what happened in Marseille earlier on Saturday, when the Pumas came from behind to beat Wales, it was a match on another level. On a completely different planet, even.
When the All Blacks survived a final Irish offensive raid, which lasted 37 phases and moved from side to side, displaying incredible control, players on both sides collapsed to the ground .
Ireland is devastated, New Zealand a mix of exhaustion and celebration. The 28-24 victory was theirs, they had denied Ireland two pieces of history – a first place in the semi-final and the equal record of 18 consecutive Tier 1 Test wins – and they were on their way themselves for the last four, where they will be the big favorites to beat Michael Cheika’s Pumas.
Who other than Sam Whitelock, that grand old campaigner and now the most capped All Black of all time, would you expect to win the deciding penalty?
“It’s a special day for us; excuse me, I lost my voice, it was quite loud in there [coach’s] “I think the whole world has been talking about these two quarter-finals for 12 months or more – ours, and the one tomorrow night between France and South Africa will probably be the same – they are massive games.
“Two very proud teams, you saw them desperate to want it, and sometimes the greatest victories are when your opponent plays really well and tests you to the limit. We didn’t want to play Ireland with two yellow cards and Ireland have a We have a great record of winning big games when the opposition get cards – and they often get cards when they play Ireland for some reason, I don’t know why – but in the end we played a lot of this game with 14 men and I couldn’t be more proud Sam [Cane] and the players.
“And I thought we looked like we were in control of the situation, and it felt good.”
New Zealand came to play from the start. After their strong comeback following big victories against Namibia, Italy and Uruguay, the All Blacks got off to a flying start. Despite a 30-phase streak in which they failed to cross the line, New Zealand quickly turned a 3-0 lead into a 13-point advantage.
The idea that those three pool wins would have left them ill-prepared for a quarter-final of this magnitude was quickly forgotten. If anything, they looked refreshed. They combined combativeness on the break with moments of brilliant attack and quality finishing.
The game was barely a quarter of an hour old and Ardie Savea, Brodie Retallick and Sam Cane each had either a turnover or a penalty – there was still life in the veterans.
But any notion that the Ireland team would collapse at the first real moment of adversity in this tournament was also quickly erased. Having gone down 13-0 following a classy 1-2 passing exchange between Rieko Ioane and Leicester Fainga’anuku, following a brilliant chip-and-regather from Beauden Barrett, Ireland were handed a three-point gift of the recovery.
While other teams might have gone for a try as an immediate response, Ireland skipper Jonny Sexton calmly pointed to the posts to put his team on the scoreboard. When Bundee Aki broke through five minutes later, the Kiwi-born center beating four All Blacks defenders coming off his right foot, the gap was suddenly three points.
But then, another change in momentum. Ireland’s lost lineout was compounded by a brilliant Will Jordan 50/22, which the All Blacks worked upfield from their lineout before returning to the right corner, where Savea was ready to dive into the corner. The margin was eight points.
Yet there was another twist in an exhilarating first 40 minutes when Mack Hansen, who had created something out of nothing by collecting a loose ball before Aki’s try, headed over the line and unloaded. At first glance it looked like a Jamison Gibson-Park touch, but replays found the slightest touch of an outstretched hand from Aaron Smith and the All Blacks number 9 quickly headed for the trash can.
Smith can’t be just any poker player, as his face told an immediate story when the TMO was called into action. Like a kid not used to getting in trouble at school, Smith knew his goose was cooked and timidly headed to the sidelines.
This was made worse when Gibson-Park himself came out of the Irish lineout, the number 9 stretching with his right hand to land 15 yards to the left of the posts. 18-17 New Zealand.
And that was just the first half.
The 40 seconds followed an almost identical, although at the same time mirror-like, storyline.
Ireland pressed early but were unable to add anything to the scoreboard as Smith was in the trash, before the All Blacks held off another Irish counter with Savea once again winning a vital penalty . This allowed New Zealand to clear until halfway, from which they produced a brilliant set move between Smith and Mo’unga, which sent Will Jordan into the corner.
Mo’unga’s touchline conversion put his side back eight points ahead and it looked like the three-time champions might just take the lead.
But once more Ireland came upon them, as they pressed, and pressed again; The world’s No.1 team wasn’t always stressing the All Blacks, but their ball retention and control was superb, with Sexton steering the ship from the pocket as usual.
That pressure finally showed itself as they rolled the maul from a five-yard lineout, immediately drove it forward and forced Codie Taylor to pull back. Referee Wayne Barnes didn’t hesitate and immediately headed towards the posts to award the penalty try, before quickly awarding the All Blacks number 2 a 10-minute break.
New change in dynamic, but will Ireland finally manage to regain the advantage over their opponents?
Once again, the tide has turned.
A scrum penalty given to the All Blacks – they received two during the match and usually had the upper hand at the set-piece – handed Jordie Barrett a 45-yard penalty, which the full-back brushed aside. But when he was given another shot from a much easier distance and angle, he wasn’t wrong. Replacement scrum-half Conor Murray will blame himself for pulling Barrett’s arm as he chased the All Blacks’ high ball, with the offense meaning the Irish would have to find a fourth try to steal the result.
And how close they came, even before the heartbreaking and nervy final exchange, they were held back over the line by another driving maul, with Jordie Barrett again at the heart of the decider. As replacement hooker Ronan Kelleher broke away from the side, Barrett was able to wedge himself between the turf and Kelleher, keeping the ball off the turf by the narrowest of margins.
Locate the finish. The absorbing and exhausting finale. From one side to the other, Ireland took turns moving the ball, forwards and backwards, to carry it into the black wall; they put their heads through, drew New Zealand level, but the All Blacks line was too resilient, too committed – too good.
The heart was beating wildly; one can only imagine what it must have been like with a dog in this fight.
Although it was a game neither team deserved to lose, it was the All Blacks who played in front for all but the first eight minutes. Foster’s team always had their noses in front and always seemed a little more comfortable; the confidence in their defensive form was superb.
“Great margins and all that,” said Ireland manager Andy Farrell when asked where he thought his side lost in this thrilling match.
“Being held over the line because of a maul, very close to the end, which could have sealed the game, those little bits are all over the game aren’t they. Ifs, buts and maybe and all that, but in the end there were two good teams, playing exceptional rugby, and unfortunately for us, we came out on the wrong side of the scoreline.
“Sport can be cruel sometimes and that’s why we love it so much. I guess I’ll think about it more in the coming days, but my first feelings are that I’m incredibly proud of the group and the way they are behaved., not just today or throughout the tournament, but how they behaved as people over the last two years – that would be my overriding feeling.”
Savea, Retallick and Cane worked tirelessly on defense and defense, while the Barrett brothers, all three, cemented their status as one of the most talented families in football. Smiley Barrett will be a proud man tonight.
The All Blacks completed 230 of their 261 tackles at 88%, 80 more than what was required of their opponents. Ireland’s attack was as fluid, controlled and determined as it has ever been during this incredible unbeaten run, but it was as if New Zealand knew what was coming and was able to maintain confidence in his system to achieve this.
It will be a heartbreaking defeat for the Irish. Their journey to 17 wins and world number 1 had the feel of an unstoppable tidal wave, with Sexton long looking like he might reach the ultimate pinnacle. But there won’t be a fairy tale ending for the veteran No. 10.
His status as a great player, and not just in his own country, is still assured.
James Lowe, Gary Ringrose, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris and Taigh Beirne were among Ireland’s best, while Aki passed the ball to several of his former teammates on no less than 20 occasions. The original Kiwi center was present at the finish, his head buried in the pitch at the Stade de France, knowing that his team had given everything and still had not succeeded.
This is the brutal reality of sport, just like the knockout stage of any World Cup. No matter the code, there must be a winner and a loser.
This game didn’t deserve the latter, but it’s the All Blacks who continue their quest for a fourth Webb Ellis crown, and the Irish face another four-year run contemplating how they can ever get past the quarter-finals. final.
