A ruthless New Zealand side broke Ireland hearts at the Rugby World Cup quarter-final stage again, as the All Blacks prevailed 28-24 in a classic at the Stade de France in Paris.
In a breathless first half, the All Blacks raced out to a 13-0 lead through a Leicester Fainga’anuku try and the boots of Richie Mo’unga and Jordie Barrett, but Ireland recovered well to narrow the half-time gap to a single point at 18-17.
Ireland’s Bundee Aki and Jamison Gibson-Park scored tries during that opening period – either side of an Ardie Savea try for New Zealand and Aaron Smith’s sin-binning for a deliberate knock-on – as Andy Farrell’s team fought back, but their inability to strike in the 22 enough proved a major factor as Will Jordan put the All Blacks back to two scores ahead with a second-half try.
Ireland responded again as their pack forced a penalty try when Codie Taylor collapsed a rampaging rolling maul, with Taylor also sin-binned for the act. But the men in green crucially failed to score against the 14 players, suffering yet another agonising last-eight exit.
Despite the fast start they would get off to, New Zealand actually appeared to make a very nervous beginning to the contest, as Smith, Jordie Barrett and Mo’unga each made errors with either boot or pass in the opening few phases.
By the eighth minute, 30 All Blacks phases in the Ireland 22 followed, with excellent defence keeping them out until Tadhg Beirne was eventually penalised for slowing down the ball, allowing Mo’unga to kick New Zealand into a 3-0 lead.
Riche Mo’unga kicked New Zealand into a 3-0 lead after Ireland had defended strongly through 30 phases
Ireland responded as a lovely Sexton left-hand pass out to Garry Ringrose set the centre running in space, where Savea coughed up a penalty for going off feet. Sexton kicked into the corner, but Brodie Retallick pinched the ball, with Ireland then unable to take advantage of an All Blacks knock-on in the 22 as James Lowe spilled Hugo Keenan’s pass into touch.
In reply, Savea forced a breakdown penalty near halfway after a Caelan Doris carry had been stopped at source by under-fire All Blacks skipper Sam Cane, and Jordie Barrett struck truly from distance for 6-0.
Jordie Barrett doubled the All Blacks lead off the kicking tee via another penalty
Slick link up play between Mack Hansen and Gibson-Park saw Ireland break into the 22 again shortly after, but Retallick produced a vital breakdown turnover near the try-line, with Cane following up that piece of defence with another turnover, on the All Blacks 22 this time, as Josh van der Flier carried isolated. The All Blacks then blew out the scoreboard on 19 minutes with a stunning counter-attack try down the left.
Beauden Barrett created it as he chipped and regathered, before Jordie Barrett, Fainga’anuku and Rieko Ioane connected superbly, with the latter offloading inside magnificently for Fainga’anuku to score.
New Zealand’s Leceister Fainga’anuku scored the opening try of the contest
Mo’unga converted brilliantly for 13-0, but Sexton finally put Ireland onto the scoreboard via a penalty when New Zealand blindside Shannon Frizell gave away a cheap penalty for blocking at the restart.
Aki appeared to be caught high by Mo’unga in the next exchange, but to the ire of Sexton and co, TMO Tom Foley chose not to intervene. Ireland saw their next lineout in the New Zealand 22 pinched again through Frizell, as mistakes continued to hurt them when well-placed.
On 27 minutes, Ireland exploded into life, as fuelled by the twinkling feet and acceleration of Hansen, they continued to play on penalty advantage before Aki took it upon himself to score a stunning solo try, stepping inside and past Ioane and Frizell, handing off Tyrel Lomax, and powering past two more challenges.
Ireland’s Bundee Aki replied with a brilliant solo run and score
Sexton converted to bring Ireland within three points, and Doris soon won Ireland’s first crucial breakdown penalty deep in their own half to stop a dangerous All Blacks attack, after Savea had broken through.
Ireland’s lineout continued to falter, however, as after losing another set-piece, Jordan produced a 50:22 and New Zealand were in for their second try through Savea, as quick ball in the 22 paved the way for a diving finish in the corner.
Ardie Savea’s try in the corner came at a crucial time for the All Blacks, just after Ireland had hit back
Mo’unga struck wide with the conversion to leave the All Blacks up by eight, but scrum-half Smith was sin-binned with four minutes of the half remaining, after terrific play between Lowe and the electric Hansen would have set Gibson-Park running at the posts, but for his opposite number’s intervention.
Sexton surprisingly turned down the straightforward shot for three points in favour of a kick to touch, and after one attack was illegally halted, Ireland showed courage to kick to the corner again, from where Gibson-Park sniped and reached to score superbly.
Sexton converted before the half-time whistle, leaving Ireland a point behind at the break.
Jamison Gibson-Park scored Ireland’s second try on the cusp of half-time, but they wasted many other chances
Ireland knew they faced a crucial spell at the beginning of the second half, attacking a New Zealand side without their scrum-half, and though Hansen produced a 50:22 to put them attacking in the right areas, two cross-field kicks – Gibson-Park to Peter O’Mahony, Hansen to Dan Sheehan – both failed to come off.
The stark difference in ruthlessness was then laid bare when Mo’unga and Jordan cut through the heart of Ireland’s defence to score a try off a lineout within their own half on 53 minutes.
Jordie Barrett lashed over the touchline conversion for a two-score lead at 25-17, and Ireland then lost key man Hansen to injury as he chased a Keenan grubber kick.
Will Jordan sliced through for New Zealand’s vital third try early in the second half
In the 59th minute, Sexton should have narrowed the gap back to five points via a penalty after Ioane had failed to roll away, but struck poorly wide in a big miss.
Ireland continued to play in the New Zealand half, and in the 64th minute, after an outstanding lineout take by Beirne, the pack sprinted forward for a penalty try and Taylor yellow card, handing Ireland a golden chance in the final quarter.
Ireland hit back again with a penalty try in the 64th minute, as New Zealand were reduced to 14 players again
Wayne Barnes had no hesitation in awarding the penalty try as New Zealand collapsed a fast-moving rolling maul
New Zealand were next to score, however, as Jordie Barrett struck for a four-point lead after a needless and costly Conor Murray pull on Barrett under a high ball – a minute after the All Blacks centre had missed off the tee as Ireland’s scrum continued to ship Wayne Barnes penalties.
Aki forced a breakdown penalty in the New Zealand 22 within moments, giving Ireland another five-metre lineout chance to lead with 10 minutes to play in arguably the biggest moment of the entire Test.
Though Ireland’s maul got rumbling forward again, Ronan Kelleher was agonisingly held up by the calf of Jordie Barrett as he dived for the line. Doris then knocked on the goal-line dropout to compound the error, with Taylor’s sin-bin elapsing for no Ireland score – a period which would ultimately prove fatal.
Ireland once again mauled up to the All Blacks try-line, but when Ronan Kelleher broke off to score he was just held up
Farrell’s men summoned up one final effort through an exhausting 37 phases up to and into the New Zealand 22, but they just fell short as Sam Whitelock did enough to force a game-ending breakdown penalty.
The All Blacks’ defence just held out in the second half to claim victory
With players crestfallen and supporters utterly devastated at full-time, Ireland – who held World Rugby’s No 1 world ranking between July 16 2022 and October 14 2023 – were left with familiar heartache, as their 17-game winning run ended at an all too familiar World Cup point.
Talisman Sexton’s outstanding rugby career ends in a way unbefitting, with he and the rest of his squad sure in the knowledge Ireland’s greatest ever chance to win the Webb Ellis had gone. Whether they ever get a better one is extremely hard to foresee.
Sexton: I’m very proud of the boys and the nation | ‘We couldn’t have done more’
Ireland captain Sexton told ITV Sport post-match…
“I’m very proud of the boys. Proud of the nation, the country, we couldn’t have done any more really.
“It’s fine margins, they sucker punched us on a couple of tries and we had to work really hard for our tries, that’s what champions do.
“Fair play to them, they’re a cracking team. It’s been amazing, these last six weeks have been a dream. This group, these fans and I’m just gutted we couldn’t do it for them.
“You’ve got to work hard for fairy-tale endings, we didn’t get it and that’s just life.
“We didn’t leave a stone unturned, we ticked every box, trained the house down. I thought after a slow enough start we played alright tonight.
“Fair play to the All Blacks, they’re a very good team and well coached.”
New Zealand head coach Ian Foster said post-match…
“It was a massive game between two teams that were desperate for a result and they’re an incredibly proud team with an amazing record coming into this one.
“But the quarter-finals is about knockout rugby and we’ve been there before and we know we were going to have to dig into ourselves, we did and I couldn’t be more proud.
“Pretty important, wasn’t it? [Barrett holding up Kelleher over the try-line]. He got himself underneath it and that’s the game of small margins. Our defence was particularly strong for most of the game.”
What’s next?
The defeat means Ireland exit at the quarter-final stage of a World Cup for the eighth time in their history, and have still yet to make a World Cup semi-final. They exit having topped Pool B after wins over Romania, Tonga, South Africa and Scotland, before falling to the All Blacks as they did four years ago in Japan.
The victory means New Zealand progress to the World Cup semi-finals for the ninth time in their history, and will face Argentina at the Stade de France in Paris on Friday October 20 (8pm kick-off BST).
