New Zealand resisted Ireland and won at the end of the suspense (28-24) during the quarter-final of the World Cup, this Saturday, October 14. The All Blacks will face Argentina in the semi-final on October 20 and can dream of a 4th world title.
Published on: 14/10/2023 – 23:14
4 mn
The black fury has taken away the Clover. At the end of an absolutely breathtaking shock which suffered no downtime, New Zealand secured a new place in the World Cup semi-final by dominating Ireland (28-24) and ending their streak of 17 straight victories.
New Zealand legend and former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw had already understood this well before the match: “ If you let the Irish settle in, they’re so well-rounded, they know how to do things so well. If you manage to disrupt them, I’m not sure they will be able to organize themselves. The main thing will be not to give up, especially at the start of the match “. The objective was therefore clear: to be the grain of sand in the perfectly oiled gear of the Irish game. An instruction that the three-time world champions from New Zealand applied to the letter.
The tension was palpable from the first seconds: the Irish made a mistake in the first action of the match, while the Blacks initially showed inaccuracies in passing and lost the ball on a poorly adjusted shot. The New Zealanders then maintained the pressure on the Irish camp, without managing to break through their defense. They finally obtained a penalty, easily transformed 10 meters by Mo’unga (8th, 0-3).
The XV du Trèfle then did not go far from the try, but its attempt failed after a poorly adjusted pass for Lowe (11th). In the process, Savea emerged perfectly to scratch the ball from Sexton and recover a new penalty for his team (14th, 0-6). Ultra-realistic and sharp at the start of the match, the New Zealanders were then launched into orbit by Beauden Barrett, at the origin of a superb sequence of play leading to Fainga’Anuku’s try (19th, 0-13) .
Jonathan Sexton came to relieve his team by scoring the first Irish points on a penalty a few minutes later (23rd, 3-13). Bundee Aki was quick to follow in his captain’s footsteps and scored a try for Clover by sneaking through the Blacks’ defense (29th, 10-13). Jostled, the New Zealanders immediately responded to asphyxiate their opponents with a new try scored at the end of the line by Ardie Savea, in all the good moves during this first period (33rd, 10-18). In numerical superiority just before half-time, the Irish quickly got back on track thanks to Gibson-Park’s try (39th, 17-18). The two nations went blow for blow and neither gave in during these titanic first 40 minutes.
The power of habit for New Zealanders
The frenzy of the meeting knew no downtime. Still in numerical superiority, the Clover players came close to another entry attempt following a superb pass at the foot of Gibson-Park for O’Mahony, at fault for a forward pass (45th). Hard-hitting in the All Blacks area, the Irish were once again stopped by the contest from an omnipresent Savea (52nd). They took the opportunity to drive the point home thanks to a great breakthrough from Mo’unga, who went all the way up the field before offering the try to Will Jordan to regain a little lead (55th, 17-25). Jonathan Sexton missed a penalty from 35 meters in the following minutes (59th).
The Irish increased their attempts in the opposing camp but first came up against the very diligent defense of the All Blacks. Unshaken, they then struck a major blow by scoring a penalty try to come back to within one point and put their opponents back in numerical inferiority (64th, 24-25). Jordie Barrett then missed a penalty from 42 meters (68th), before catching up from 30 meters (69th, 24-28).
In an unbearable end to the match, the Irish then tried everything to score the winning try. They first thought they would succeed by reaching the Blacks’ goal after a carried ball, but Beauden Barrett turned into a savior by sliding to the ground to prevent the try (72nd). Throwing all their strength into a final sequence of play which seemed to never want to end (37 phases), the Irish gradually approached the opposing line before losing the ball and seeing their dream of the first semi-final historical fly away (24-28).
New Zealand therefore continues its path in the competition and is a little closer to a fourth world title, after its previous victories in 1987, 2011 and 2015. Next step: taming the Pumas of Argentina in the semi-final on October 20.
