Ireland's Rugby World Cup quarter-final agony goes on after an epic clash with New Zealand
Jonathan Sexton couldn't steer Ireland to a first World Cup semi-final. Picture: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
IRELAND'S World Cup dreams ended in agony on Saturday night at the Stade de France, as the quarter-final hoodoo raised its head once more, with the All Blacks leading from start to finish.
The All Blacks got the scoreboard moving in the 8th minute from a Richie Mo’unga penalty, and in the 14th minute, Jordie Barrett landed another from the half way line, after a huge turnover by Ardie Savea.
New Zealand full-back Beauden Barrett then cut Ireland open with a delightful chip over the top and when they ran it left Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane combined to put winger Leicester Fainga'anuku over in the corner for a superb score in the 19th minute.
At 13 down Ireland were in a hole, but got on the board through a Jonathan Sexton penalty in the 22nd minute, and they were right back in the tie when Bundee Aki sliced through five All Blacks to power over for his fifth try of the tournament after half an hour.
The Irish lineout was completely malfunctioning and New Zealand were capitalising, and they crossed for their second try in the right corner from the excellent Savea in the 33rd minute after a brilliant Will Jordan 50-22 had given them the attacking platform.
Aaron Smith was yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on in the 37th minute and Ireland turned down a shot at the posts to go for the throat, and after Peter O’Mahony had taken the lineout scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park brilliantly sniped around the edge of the maul to reach the whitewash, to ensure that Ireland trailed by just 17-18 at the break.
The opening salvoes of the second half was like two heavyweights throwing their best shots at each other, and in the 53rd minute, the All Blacks landed a sucker punch, as Mo’unga carved the Irish midfield open with a wonderful run and he was able to find Jordan on his shoulder to score.
Sexton hooked a kickable-looking penalty in the 58th minute, but Ireland were awarded a penalty try in the 64th minute when Codie Taylor collapsed an Irish maul that was hurtling towards the All-Black line at a rate of knots, with the hooker being sent to the bin for his indiscretion.
Jordie Barrett hooked a penalty attempt of his own in the 68th minute, but a minute later he got another opportunity, which he slotted.
Ireland thought they were mauling over for try number four in the 71st minute only for Jordie Barrett to brilliantly get under the ball to deny Ronan Kelleher the score.
Ireland made one last desperate lunge to save their World Cup with over 30 phases with the last play of the game, but Ireland’s World Cup hopes ended with that one last blast of Wayne Barnes’ whistle.
R Mo’unga (1 pen, 1 con), J Barrett (2 pens, 1 con), L Fainga'anuku, A Savea, W Jordan (1 try each).
J Sexton (1 pen, 2 cons), B Aki, J Gibson-Park (1 try each), Penalty try.
B Barrett; W Jordan, R Ioane, J Barrett, L Fainga'anuku; R Mo'unga, A Smith; E de Groot, C Taylor, T Lomax; B Retallick, S Barrett; S Frizell, S Cane (c), A Savea.
S Whitelock for S Frizell (59), T Williams, T Newell and A Lienert-Brown for E de Groot, T Lomax and L Fainga'anuku (63), D Coles for B Retallick (65), D Papali'I and B Retallick for S Cane and C Taylor (74).
H Keenan; M Hansen, G Ringrose, B Aki, J Lowe; J Sexton (c), J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; T Beirne, I Henderson; P O'Mahony, J van der Flier, C Doris.
F Bealham for T Furlong (52), J O’Brien for M Hansen (56), J McCarthy and J Conan for I Henderson and J van der Flier (59), C Murray for J Gibson-Park (61), R Kelleher for D Sheehan (65), D Kilcoyne for A Porter (76).
Wayne Barnes (England)
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