New Zealand’s Will Jordan and Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park in the game. GONZALO FUENTES (Portal)
New Zealand, the great bully of rugby, the fireworks team, secured their ticket to the World Cup semi-finals this Saturday in Paris with their most efficient version. Command and counterattack to defeat the number one in the rankings, an Ireland that, after 17 consecutive wins – since June 2022 – lost (24-28) and extended its curse of the quarter-finals, a round in which it lost all eight times has denied. The three-time champions are still very much alive in their most precarious period of the last decade and will battle Argentina for a place in the final next Friday.
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Ireland came out at full speed and had to take their first penalty after just 22 seconds because they were impatient in the crowd and wanted to fight for the ball from the ground. The rush of the favorite, a difficult suit when you have 15 black t-shirts in front of you. The All Blacks were less ambitious and limited themselves to stringing together sequences, taking an eternity (29) until the defense conceded the penalty. They quickly exchanged it between the posts and opened the scoring. Jordan Barrett would repeat with a kick from midfield. Bleeding out green fouls – up to five in a quarter of an hour – cost points.
The Irish onslaught continued as they refused to step between the posts and unsuccessfully attempted a try on their first foray. New Zealand defended in their field and waited for the mistake, the smaller player’s attack, to steal the oval and push it away with a kick from Ardie Savea. The strikers, the fat ones, don’t kick, but he’s good for everything and started the counterattack at the first attempt. Beauden Barrett broke through the middle with a perfect hat kick. Lowe attacked him vigorously but his defense came too late and the All Blacks used the oval on the left to exploit their superiority. Fainga’anuku arrived there to complete a wall with Ioane and silence the Greenhats.
Defense without mistakes
A 0:13 in 20 minutes was a huge mental test for the lovable loser. New Zealand made the task easier on serve by blocking Lowe and allowing Sexton to clear the score to nil. Paradoxically, the deficit relaxed the Irish, who took up the task and stopped their cascade of losses. They owned the territory, it was a matter of time before gaps appeared. And Bundee Aki’s target arrived without hurrying, advancing with short strides as the defenders lunged at him in vain.
The script Ireland wanted was already in motion, a recipe that had an antidote: counterattacks. Without much effort, the All Blacks positioned themselves in the opponent’s rearguard with a 50:22 kick – a throw from their own field that, after a rebound, leaves the opponent’s 22 zone and allows the kicker to retain possession of the ball a sequence that saw the all-rounder Savea posing on the right wing. Another blow to the clover As the platform formed, little Gibson Park surprised and started the test against its home country just minutes after losing the oval in similar action. Gestures of persistence.
The half-time deficit (17-18) was a victory for Ireland, although time in the dressing room slowed the excitement. The Greens were still in contention, but New Zealand defended flawlessly until their rivals thwarted the attack. They ducked and waited for their moment. And all it took was one detail, the missed tackle by a titan like Van der Flier, for Richie Mo’unga to open the floodgates. Seconds later, sprinter Will Jordan ran unhindered toward the tryout. Another mountain for Ireland.
Last endless attack
The clock was ticking and Sexton missed an easy shot to cut the deficit from eight points to a single score. Bad symptom. The physical attrition sharpened the Greens’ dominance, but their rival held his line, without gifts. They had to resort to their wild card, the maul, the platform they formed after putting the ball in play from the wing, which opened up the cell. Not only did he score the try, but he also gave Codie Taylor a yellow card for bringing him down illegally. Ten minutes of numerical superiority in just over a quarter of an hour of play. And Ireland, one.
The epilogue called for a psychologist. The XV del Trébol’s fouls returned – the second time Jordie Barrett found the woodwork and extended the lead to four – who again penetrated the opponent’s goal zone with his stick, but there was no test as Barrett himself dodged a call made by Kelleher . The All Blacks had won their defeat and the Irish had five minutes to show proof of redemption. They tried one last endless attack, 37 phases in search of the rift. Without a network, with time served, a fight against his history.
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