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How historic series sets up Ireland's quarterfinal with All Blacks
By Finn Morton
Looking to make the semi-finals for the first time at a Rugby World Cup, Ireland will need to right the wrongs from four years ago when they come up against the All Blacks in Paris this weekend.
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Ireland have never made it past the quarter-finals at the sports showpiece event. Time and time again, Ireland have fallen short of expectations, belief and glory.
New Zealand ended Ireland’s quest for a maiden semi-final berth at the last World Cup in Japan as the All Blacks ran away with a commanding 46-14 victory in Tokyo.
The hopes and dreams of the Irish were dashed on an unforgettably disastrous night. Ireland were the world’s top-ranked side going into the event, just as they were this time around in France.
World No. 1 Ireland eased past Six Nations rivals Scotland 36-14 at Stade de France on Saturday to book their place in the next stage, but the All Blacks are waiting and they’ll be hungry for their own revenge.
Ireland beat the All Blacks for the first time ever on New Zealand soil last year, and backed that up with another victory a week later to secure a historic series triumph in Aotearoa.
“We went to New Zealand and Andy told us he put us under the most pressure he could find. To go on a three-Test tour but also do the midweek games, it was to test us and to make us learn,” captain Johnny Sexton said after Ireland’s 22-point win over Scotland.
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“We learned so many lessons on that tour to take with us for the Six Nations, to win a Grand Slam. To put us in this situation again, to have to play them again.
Knockout
11 - 12
Final
6 - 44
SF1
15 - 16
SF2
17 - 29
QF1
24 - 28
QF2
30 - 24
QF3
28 - 29
QF4
“They have said it’s the one they want, they are hurting and they want to put it right. That is the biggest challenge in rugby, to beat them when they are in that frame of mind. Two teams will both be under pressure and it will be who copes with that the best.”
But there’s just something different about this Ireland side – you can feel it in the streets of France. Spurred on by thousands of fans who have been singing Zombie as loud as humanly possible, Ireland are playing like world beaters.
Ireland started their campaign with dominant wins over Romania and Tonga, but really stamped their championship credentials with a thrilling win over defending World Cup winners South Africa.
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Andy Farrell’s men were in the driver’s seat in Pool B but they needed to keep the fans singing, cheering and bouncing against the Scots. Scotland’s World Cup campaign hung in the balance, and they could’ve knocked Ireland out of the Cup with a win at the Parisian venue.
But Ireland never looked in danger of losing. Wing James Lowe scored after about 65 seconds and the rest was history.
“Sometimes when you know in the back of your mind when you have different permutations, if you get one point, if you get two, if you’re losing. All these different things. We just needed to narrow the focus and say we are here to win the game and put in a performance to do that,” Sexton continued.
“Very happy with the lads and we’re exactly where we want to be now. We won the pool and we are into the quarter-final. We always knew we would most likely play France or New Zealand. There’s no easy option there and we have New Zealand.
“It’ll be a very tough game and I see they have been talking about revenge already. It’ll be a game they want and we need to be ready for it.”
Some talk on the NZ Herald about Ireland always being the team that NZ fears, NZ looking for revenge and Foster chipping in saying pressure on Ireland. NZ will need a deeper reason than revenge if they are going to overcome Ireland.
If they go behind in a massively pressurized game will the doubt from the many losses of the last couple of years rear?
Ireland will take huge encouragement from these noises coming from NZ. We all know if NZ loses the entire Foster era will go down as disastrous. That’s pressure. Foster is projecting and under pressure and he has let Ireland know.
Ireland will just compliment NZ and let NZ do the posturing which would be a mistake on their part if it continues.
I also heard Foster saying the yellow in the series deciding last game against Ireland in NZ should have been red. The way he said it made it sound like the only chance NZ had was if Ireland were down to 14 men, which certainly doesn't inspire confidence. Foster is in no position to try these mind games and saying the pressure is on Ireland sounds like desperation. Can also sense the Irish are trying to get them made so they play with emotion and anger instead of precision and smarts
What we think really has no bearing on how each team prepares. No doubt both will respect the other and will give it 100% in the game. What Foster says in the media I don’t think will impact either side.
Ireland should win, better coach and gameplan. NZ just rely on players being talented under Foster which will probably not be enough.
Bring on Razor 2024.
It’s a fair point. It’s been a hallmark of the Foster era that the best performances have always been ‘responses’. One has to ask why they have to respond in the first place and the previous game wasn’t motivating enough. The previous version of the ABs just used to go out and play well, or at least find a way to win if they played poorly. They didn’t seem to need to dig into the anger pool to find a good performance. I see some similarities with your Irish, they’ve definitely got the winning habit at the moment. We’ll see if they can bring it to knock out footy.
If Ireland lose it will be one of the biggest RWC chokes since the ABs in 2007. Unbeaten in 17 games, have the wood over NZ for the last few years. ABs should just play with some freedom, no way they can match Ireland in the trenches
Fozzy’s era has been a disaster. That much is set in stone - but it is an issue for another day. It doesn’t really have that much bearing on the QF result though as it stands. The issue for Foster has always been about consistency, not that they can’t deliver on the day. And actually, the QF is a pressurised environment for all involved - including Ireland.
Fozzy could win the world cup and the majority of kiwis would still consider his era as disastrous - he’s had to coach with this pressure for years now. I don’t mind the revenge angle but it’s primarily from the players rather than him, to be fair.
History would suggest there is a huge amount of pressure on the Irish, they’re the favourites going in and they’ve never won a knock out game.
The build up this week is going to be huge.
(Sometimes I feel that the anticipation of these massive games id as much or the fun as the actual game)