At the end, some Ireland players sunk to the ground. Johnny Sexton stared into the distance in disbelief. The All Blacks sportingly embraced their opponents. Both sides had delivered a phenomenal contest, arguably the best quarter-final in World Cup history, but once again it ended in lung-bursting heartbreak for Ireland.
It was a game so compelling and of such quality that it deserved to be the final. New Zealand’s reward is a semi-final against Argentina and they will now fancy their chances of going all the way now. One wonders if Ireland will ever get such a chance again.
It was a cruel end to a glittering career for the 38-year-old Sexton, who had hoped to take Ireland into the uncharted waters of a semi-final for the first time in World Cup history.
Yet once again it was New Zealand who brought their knock-out hopes to a crushing end, just as they had done four years ago in Japan, and once again proved that being the number one side in the world rankings counts for little when it matters most.
It is comfortable territory for New Zealand, who have lost just one of 10 quarter-finals, to France in 2007. Ireland have now lost all eight of theirs. One wonders what Ireland must do to break their quarter-final hoodoo. For this was indisputably their best ever side, brilliantly coached by Andy Farrell and his cohesive management unit and honed by the IRFU’s high performance programme.
Considering they lost their opening game of the tournament to France and had not been challenged in their comprehensive victories over Italy Namibia and Uruguay, there had been doubt too about whether New Zealand had enough firepower to disrupt an Ireland side that had gone toe-to-toe with first South Africa and then Scotland.
There was a rich irony that the architect of their defeat, bringing to an end their record of 17 successive Test victories, was the man who experienced quarter-final losses as Ireland head coach in 2015 and 2019, Joe Schmidt.
If Farrell has taken Ireland on significantly from the foundation left by Schmidt’s tenure, his fingerprints could be found on the critical details that made the difference.
Defensively, New Zealand were able to slow Ireland’s ball down and force turnovers by being selective in which breakdowns to flood, struck with a brilliant first-phase strike from inside their own half, finished by Will Jordan, and targeting Ireland’s line-out and ensuring that Caelan Doris, Ireland’s talismanic No 8, was shackled.
It will be of no consolation to Sexton or Farrell, but at least they did not die wondering. The last moments of the game saw Ireland put together a mesmerising and attacking play that reached 37 phases.
The precision of their attack and ability to recycle in the most pressurised of situations was utterly compelling, and on several occasions appeared to exploit a weak point in the All Blacks’ defence.
Ireland kept making metres but when it came to the white heat moment, New Zealand had the experience of Sam Whitelock to win the match-winning penalty as Ronan Kelleher carried into contact five metres from the line.
Having been forced to chase the game throughout the contest, Ireland will look back at missed opportunities when twice New Zealand were reduced to 14 men with yellow cards for Aaron Smith and Codie Taylor.
But it is hard to argue with New Zealand’s victory. They outsmarted Ireland in key areas and showed champion spirit themselves in soaking up everything Farrell’s men could throw at them.
And yet it still came down to inches. Having scored a penalty try from a driving maul in the second half to claw themselves back into the game, Ireland seemed on course to finally snatch the lead in the 72nd minute with another forward drive, only for Jodie Barrett to hold up Kelleher over the line. Such moments define such gargantuan contests.
Ultimately the key to New Zealand’s triumph was to build scoreboard pressure, after racing into a 13-0 lead with penalties by Richie Mo’unga and Jordie Barrett and a try by Leicester Fainga’anuku.
Not many teams would find a way back into the contest from that position against the All Blacks, but Ireland had the mental resilience and firepower to twice force themselves right back into contention.
It was Bundee Aki, the player of the tournament so far, who had earlier kick-started Ireland’s fightback, powering over by cutting back inside both Reiko Ioane and Savea for a superb individual try before Jamison Gibson-Park sniped over for Ireland’s second try after Sexton had twice turned down the opportunity to kick penalties following a yellow card for Aaron Smith for a deliberate knock-on.
But having weather the storm, New Zealand bared their teeth again, slicing the Ireland defence open with a brilliant break by Mo’unga from off the top line-out ball before putting Jordan over for a brilliant try. It looked decisive.
Ireland for the first time in the tournament, looked rattled. Sexton missed a penalty to cut the deficit and then made a strange decision to try to chase his own chip. A wide pass was intercepted by Smith.
It was critical for Ireland to score next. And remarkably, the found the ability to raise their game again, with the bench making a powerful impact with Joe McCarthy leading the way. Sexton kicked a penalty to the corner and a rolling maul was illegally pulled down. Wayne Barnes awarded a penalty try and sent Codie Taylor to the sin bin.
Back to a one-point game, the question was now whether New Zealand could hold on. Once again they managed the time smartly and critically Jodie Barrett was able to extend the lead to four points with his second penalty just moments after a miss. Ireland dominated the finale but the All Blacks held on for the sweetest revenge.
Match details
Scoring sequence: 0-3 Mo’unga pen, 0-6 J Barrett pen, 0-11 Fainga’anuku try, 0-13 Mo’unga con, 3-13 Sexton pen, 8-13 Aki try, 10-13 Sexton con, 10-18 Savea try, 15-18 Gibson-Park try, 17-18 Sexton con, 17-23 Jordan try, 17-25 J Barrett con, 24-25 penalty try, 24-28 J Barrett pen.
Ireland: Keenan, Hansen, Ringrose, Aki, Lowe, Sexton, Gibson-Park, Porter, Sheehan, Furlong, Beirne, Henderson, O’Mahony, van der Flier, Doris.
Replacements: Kelleher, Kilcoyne, Bealham, McCarthy, Conan, Murray, Crowley, O’Brien.
New Zealand: B. Barrett, Jordan, Ioane, J. Barrett, Fainga’anuku, Mo’unga, Smith, de Groot, Taylor, Lomax, Retallick, S. Barrett, Frizzel, Cane, Savea.
Replacements: Coles, Williams, Newell, Whitelock, Papali’i, Christie, McKenzie, Liernert-Brown.
Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU)
