Sympathy is rarely felt for a rival rugby nation yet it was impossible to suppress pangs of exactly that emotion for Ireland. The cruel, crushing nature of this seventh World Cup quarter-final exit has never been so severely inflicted. As the Ireland coach, Joe Schmidt, exclaimed, the scars of this defeat will remain for some time. There could be no more brutal way to sign off his tenure.
While Ireland knew the All Blacks would respond after two defeats in their last three meetings, they were powerless to stop it. Four years ago it was a similar theme. The All Blacks arrived at the World Cup quarter-finals to meet France, their supposed World Cup nemesis. Playing at the same Cardiff venue, memories of 2007 were rolled out in the build-up. The All Blacks bottled that fury and produced one of their best performances on this stage, sweeping France aside to win 62-13.
Written by Liam Napier at Tokyo Stadium
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2019/oct/19/new-zealand-ireland-world-cup-quarter-final under the title “Almighty All Blacks lay waste to the side that inspired their rebuild | Liam Napier”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
