Hugo's Blog

For the first of 4 quarter-finals, the sea of green took on blacks in an instant classic that saw Ireland’s World Cup quarter-final curse continue as they were beaten 28-24 by New Zealand. 

A significant headline going into the match day would be New Zealand missing their star winger Mark Telea, left out of the game on day 23 for disciplinary reasons, who would be replaced by the explosive young talent Leicester Fainga’anuku, winning only his 7th cap going into a World Cup quarter-final. 

Early in the game, New Zealand came out firing on all cylinders, going up 6-0 with two early penalties kicked by Richie Mo’unga. Their momentum only swung further as Fainga’anuku showed his selection with a try, pushing the score to 13-0. Not long after, World Player of the Year Ardie Savea crossed the line for a second try, widening the gap even further. However, a yellow card for the All Blacks offered Ireland a crucial lifeline.

Ireland responded quickly and efficiently, capitalising on their numerical advantage; Bundee Aki and Jamison Gibson-Park crossed the line with much-needed tries, while Johnny Sexton added two conversions and a penalty. At the halftime whistle, the scoreline had narrowed to 18-17, giving the Irish players and fans much-needed hope of an upset. 

The second half continued at the ridiculous pace set in the first 40 minutes. However, Ireland failed to capitalise on the remaining sin-bin period, remaining scoreless on their four visits to the opposing 22 in the opening of the second half. 

With 15 men back on the field, New Zealand came flying through for their third try, delivered by Will Jordan, but would quickly be hit with a penalty try and yellow card for collapsing Ireland’s maul, sending them back down to 14 after only just regaining whole numbers. Yet, in a pivotal moment of the match, Jordie Barrett produced an extraordinary defensive effort to hold up an Irish rolling maul, denying the men in green a vital score.

In the dying moments of the match, the men in green used all their willpower to pull together an enormous final assault, pushing through a ridiculous 37-phase attack from their half into the All-Black’s 22, using everyone on the field to try and find one game-ending score. As the clock was in the red, New Zealand found their escape when Sam Whitlock delivered a game-ending steal, extinguishing Ireland’s dream and securing a place in the semi-finals.