Andy Farrell’s side were 13-0 down after they struggled to make a dent in the first 20 minutes.
Murray Kinsella Reports from Paris 13-0 DOWN AFTER the opening quarter of a World Cup quarter-final is not the place you want to be.
Ireland have just kicked off to start the game and the All Blacks will have to exit here, giving Farrell’s men an early chance to attack, but loosehead prop Andrew Porter’s discipline slips.Porter jackals looking for the turnover and though he’s clearly not on his feet, he can’t resist ripping the ball clear. It’s one of 10 penalties conceded by Ireland in this game, exactly the same number as New Zealand gave up.
It’s a frustrating one for Ireland, who feel they’ve done enough to win the penalty and probably open the scoring from the tee, but Barnes gets a call from assistant referee Christophe Ridley, who tells him, “ green, straight across the scrum, loosehead angle.” But the call goes against Ireland, with the New Zealand back five doing a good job of exaggerating the angle by chasing through after their front row have gone backwards. Barnes trusts his assistant referee. Sometimes those calls go against you. That’s rugby.
But in both cases, New Zealand came out on top. In the early battle, they were narrow and direct as they laid down a physical challenge that Ireland largely answered. There were some huge collisions such as the one below as Tadhg Furlong tackles Ethan de Groot. New Zealand retain possession and continue to grind through exhausting phases until finally Ireland crack with a penalty concession.Beirne lands in a bad position here, down on top of the ball as he brings Savea to ground.
Ireland respond well as their first attack of the game sees Ringrose make ground up the right-hand side, where Savea is penalised for not rolling away. Ireland can attack and there are carries from Bundee Aki and Porter before they look for the final blow out on the left.Gibson-Park’s pass is superb, allowing Hugo Keenan to just fade outside Will Jordan, in turn drawing Beauden Barrett in onto him.
New Zealand then nail their five-metre lineout under big pressure from O’Mahony. The Kiwis had a flawless lineout performance with a 100% return on their eight throws, while they also turned over two Irish throws. There is the chance of a pass out the back from Aki but Cane is focused on nailing Ireland’s number eight, which he does. It’s a fine read from Cane.
Gibson-Park pushes his knee into Cane, probably with the intention of helping to ensure a penalty for Ireland for Cane not rolling away. We spoke about how Ireland did this against South Africa, when Gibson-Park helped to win a penalty by highlighting the positioning of the tackler. It’s another call that Ireland will feel could have gone their way for Cane being in that channel but Barnes was happy with the All Blacks’ captain’s effort.
Porter and O’Mahony are still holding on the left and now Sexton and Lowe are starting to swing back to that side as Aki gets up off the ground in order to retreat into the attacking line on that side. Again, the Kiwis can lift the pressure by clearing the penalty kick into touch and they use that lineout platform to kick what is clearly intended to be a contestable bomb from the middle of the pitch.
However, Mo’unga does an excellent job of fielding it on the full, using all of his pace to scamper across the pitch from a central position and deny Ireland the bounce of the ball they’d have hoped for. Ireland’s hope is that defenders close to the edge will get an early read and drop off to cover chips, or that their backfield defenders will be able to close up and win the race to the chipped ball.
The Kiwi fullback is immediately in danger of being turned over by Hansen, but watch his excellent work on the ground to keep the ball clear of Hansen.
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