Ireland 24 New Zealand 28: Irish dumped out of Rugby World Cup after thrilling clash with All Blacks
IRELAND were hung, drawn and quartered once more as the All Blacks edged out an epic contest.
This was the eighth time Ireland reached the last eight and, as with the previous seven, they were on the wrong end of the scoreline.
There were 32 points between these sides when they met at the same stage of the competition four years ago.
This was a much closer affair but given what Ireland had done in between, winning a series in New Zealand, defeating defending world champions South Africa twice and claiming a Grand Slam that is much not consolation.
The defeat marked the end of Johnny Sexton’s illustrious career at the end of 38 but the All Blacks will march on with hopes of a fourth World Cup title.
Ireland faced the Haka by organising themselves in a figure of eight.
It was what they had done ahead of their first win over the All Blacks, at the 29th attempt, in Chicago in November 2016 to honour former Ireland no 8 Anthony Foley who had died the previous month.
They did it again, two days out from the seventh anniversary of his death, in the city where he had passed ahead of his Munster side’s game against Racing 92.
But Ireland were not just drawing on those who had gone before them but those who surrounded them with the stands in the Stade de France once more populated by those wearing green.
And the guttural cries of the All Blacks players during the Haka were drowned out by a deafening rendition of the Fields of Athenry.
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If Ireland were emboldened by all of this, it did not show in the opening exchanges. The All Blacks made a number of unforced errors in the opening two minutes but, instead of capitalising on them, Ireland instead made some of their own.
Andrew Porter conceded one penalty and then another, the second in the scrum, as New Zealand established a foothold in the game.
Ireland withstood 30 phases of play before eventually falling foul of Wayne Barnes with Tadhg Beirne somewhat harshly penalised for not rolling away.
Richie Mo’unga opted to kick it and there was some relief on Ireland’s part that, for all that pressure, New Zealand had come away with just three points, whilst also providing something of a breather.
The trouble was they did not reap any dividend from their time in their opponents’ 22 after Johnny Sexton opted to kick for the corner with Ireland’s first penalty.
The lineout – for the first time but not the last – malfunctioned. It was salvaged to the point that the ball was worked to the far side of the pitch but James Lowe fumbled the ball into touch.
The All Blacks doubled their lead with a penalty from Jordie Barrett just over the halfway line after Caelan Doris had been pinged.
Ian Foster’s side strengthened their grip on the game with a converted try just before the midway point of the first half.
Beauden Barrett chipped and collected a kick and, although Lowe made a good tackle, they quickly recycled it with Leicester Fainga’anuku and Rieko exchanging passes in the left corner before the former went over with Mo’unga converting.
In the past, a 13-0 lead for the All Blacks over Ireland would essentially mean game over but, by the half-time whistle, there was just a point separating the sides.
The fight-back started from the restart when Shannon Frizell took out Hugo Keenan. This time Sexton kicked for goal to get his side on the scoreboard.
Brodie Retallick then clearly caught Bundee Aki’s head with his shoulder with a reckless challenge which was not deemed worthy of a second look by the match officials.
Aki exacted his own retribution. The pass from Lowe was slightly behind him but he generated his own momentum, breaking through tackles by Ioane, Frizeell and Ardie Savea before powering over with Sexton converting.
New Zealand hit back and had the luxury of penalty advantage when the ball was spun out to Savea who touched down despite Lowe’s best efforts. Mo’unga missed with the conversion.
In the 37th minute, scrum-half Aaron Smith was yellow-carded for deliberately knocking on to stop a pass reaching his opposite number Jamison Gibson-Park.
Ireland again went to the corner and, eventually, got their reward from a second lineout when Gibson-Park’s dummy took him past Will Jordan to touch down with Sexton adding the extras.
Andy Farrell’s side could not take any further advantage of their numerical supremacy by the time Smith returned in the 47th minute and were left with more work to do after conceding a straightforward try.
Retallick claimed the lineout and Mo’unga burst through space between Dan Sheehan and Josh van der Flier before leaving Will Jordan to do the rest with Barrett adding the extras.
Sexton dragged a penalty wide but Ireland – who were rejuvenated by the impacts of replacements such as Jimmy O’Brien were given a lifeline with 16 minutes to go.
They were awarded a penalty try with All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor also yellow-carded for collapsing the maul following a fine Beirne lineout take.
Ireland conceded a penalty against a seven-man scrum. Jordie Barrett missed that one but not the next. Holding up Rónan Kelleher to prevent a try was even more impressive act by the centre.
It was the last real opportunity for the side ranked no 1 in the world to back it up as the Bll Blacks progressed to meet Argentina on Friday.