New Zealand imposed its class to reach the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup after defeating Ireland 24-28 this Saturday in Saint-Denis, in an intense duel of enormous quality that could have changed direction in the last minutes.
The All Blacks asserted their reliability, especially in defense, against an Ireland that arrived with the title of number one in the world and undefeated winner of the last Six Nations. But the Irish could not escape their curse, since they have never made it past the quarter-finals in a Rugby World Cup, and despite their fast play, they collided more times than expected with the black wall of the rival defense.
The All Blacks began dominating, inside the Irish 22, but without being able to overcome the intense rival defense. A penalty shot converted by Mo'Unga allowed him to take the lead in the 8th minute.
In the 10th, Ireland also had a penalty shot, but their star, Johnny Sexton, opted to look for the side kick to close the free-kick try, which did not materialize. Another punishing blow for the All Black" was converted by Jordie Barrett from 50 meters.
Ireland got angry and came very close to the try in a long possession, but the New Zealanders managed to escape the pressure and a quick counterattack on the left flank allowed a try by Fainga'anuku, converted by Mo'unga.
Barely twenty minutes had passed and New Zealand already won 0-13. But Sexton took advantage of an easy penalty shot to score the first three points for the Clover XV and encourage his team.
And the encouragement came, because shortly after Aki scored a try in a spectacular play in which he evaded three rivals. Sexton again showed his reliability to bring Ireland within 10-13. As happened against South Africa, Ireland once again had a serious problem with their own throw-ins, incurring many losses.
One of those errors led to a rival attack that Ardie Savea managed to materialize in a rehearsal, although Mo'unga failed the transformation. A yellow card to Smith left the Kiwis in a disadvantage for ten minutes and Ireland twice insisted on using penalty kicks to bring the ball closer and, on the second occasion, Gibson-Park achieved the goal of scoring a try.
Sexton transformed it to leave the score at a very even 17-18 with which an intense first half ended, with a high physical and technical level, and with both teams very even in most of the statistics.
The second half began with the same tone, a lot of intensity and classy plays on both sides, although Ireland stepped much more into the New Zealand 22 zone.
But those in green failed to materialize that greater possession against the fierce rival defense, and a brilliant black counterattack meant a try by Jordan, transformed by Jordie Barrett, to once again mark the difference (17-25 in the 54th minute).
Things got even worse for Ireland when Sexton missed a relatively simple penalty shot (m. 59), forcing his team to pick up the pace to achieve the comeback in just 20 minutes.
An Irish foul try in the 64th minute brought that comeback closer (24-25), which, together with a new yellow card for the New Zealander Taylor, made the large and noisy Irish fans dream, who got tired of singing Fields of Athenry.
Jordie Barrett missed a penalty shot shortly after, but immediately afterwards the referee awarded another, and this time he was right. Ireland only needed one try to get ahead on the scoreboard and went desperate, with a long possession in which they looked for the fault in the rival defense, which remained firm.
The rehearsal was almost here, really very close, but it didn't materialize. Ireland once again collided with history and New Zealand continues its brilliant tradition in the World Cups, with three victories, one runner-up and a third place in nine editions.
Ireland (24): Porter (Kilcoyne, 76), Sheehan (Kelleher, 65), Furlong (Bealham, 53), Beirne, Henderson (McCarthy, 59), O'Mahony, Van Der Flier (Conan, 59) Doris; Gibson-Park (Murray, 61), Sexton, Lowe, Aki, Ringrose, Hansen (O'Brien, 61) and Keenan.
Nueva Zelanda (28): De Groot (Williams, 64), Taylor (Coles, 75), Lomax (Newell, 64), Retallick (Coles, 65), S. Barrett, Frizell (Whitelock, 59), Cane (Papali'i, 75), Savea; Smith, Mo'unga, Fainga'anuku (Lienert-Brow, 64), J. Barrett, Ioane, Jordan y B. Barrett.
Scores: 0-3, penalty hit by Richie Mo'unga (8). 0-6, penalty hit by Jordie Barrett (14). 0-11, Leicester try Fainga'anuku (19). 0-13, transformation of Richie Mo'unga (21). 3-13, penalty hit by Johnny Sexton (22). 8-13 try by Bundee Aki (27). 10-13, transformation of Johnny Sexton (29). 10-18, try by Ardie Savea (33). 15-18, try by Jamison Gibson-Park (39). 17-18, transformation of Johnny Sexton (40). 17-23, try by Will Jordan (54). 17-25, transformation of Jordie Barrett (55). 24-25, foul try (61). 24-28, penalty shot by Jordie Barrett (69).
Referee: Wayne Barnes (English). He yellow carded Smith (37) and Taylor (64) for New Zealand.
Incidents: Second quarter-final match of the Rugby World Cup played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis before almost 80,000 spectators. Due to geographical proximity, Irish fans overwhelmingly dominated the stands. With this result, New Zealand and Argentina will play the first semifinal, next Friday the 20th in this same stadium.
