RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland
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@chimoaus said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
I think Whitelock now has the record of most RWC games and he has two more to add to his total. Will be hard to beat.
Might have most RWC matches won as well? Maybe we need a Big Sam's Firsts thread...
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@Machpants said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
One of the very few times under foster we have away less than ten penalties versus a tier 1 side
A key weakness this..hope they can ameliorate it.
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@Wairau said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Commiserations to the supporters of Ireland and Wales, it's tough, lose and go home from the quarters. As good as we feel, they must feel just as bad. Ireland have had a fantastic run to get to this point, and it took a super effort from the ABs to just be holding on for the last few minutes.
I was reading a review of world media reactions (NZ Herald) and saw this one by Rúaidhrí O’Connor of the Irish Independent
*“The All Blacks needed a 37-phase defensive set in injury time to finally squeeze past them, Ireland going the length of the field into the end where Johnny Sexton had dropped his goal in 2018 but there was to be no fairytale end to the great out-half’s career as Sam Whitelock got over the ball to win it.
“So, the winning run ends at the worst possible moment and, in truth, they were beaten by the better team on the night."*
Yet, that is exactly what our 2013 team did to win. Ireland could have won, if they were good and fit enough. I wonder if BB and SW had a flashback.
I had a flashback! It was thinking "fůck, they're going to do what we did to them 10 years ago."
But unfortunately for them they didn't have Bros Franks to shift bodies!
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@Rancid-Schnitzel said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@Wairau said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Yet, that is exactly what our 2013 team did to win. Ireland could have won, if they were good and fit enough. I wonder if BB and SW had a flashback.
I had a flashback! It was thinking "fůck, they're going to do what we did to them 10 years ago."
But unfortunately for them they didn't have Bros Franks to shift bodies!
The talk about the minutes their starting XV had played leading into the quarter final showed in the final stanza. While they managed to get down to the other end of the field, it looked like the All Blacks were making seriously good decisions about contesting the ruck. The Irish attack looked predictable and increasingly ponderous until they simply ran out of effective cleaners.
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@Daffy-Jaffy who was Sexton mouthing off at?
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@taniwharugby Allegedly Rieko.
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@MiketheSnow Cane's best performance under Foster.
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A few hours on, that was still as high a quality game as you will see. Two excellent rugby sides (and for all the angst, we tend to forget we are still a very good side) playing very well. Someone had to lose, thankfully it wasn't us. The difference i think was, as the game wore on, we were able to work the game in to our favour more than them.
So much today was little things that i wouldn't have called hallmarks of this iteration of the All Blacks. Our ruck work was excellent. On our ball our pacement and cleanout was highly accurate, and allowed us to maintain a lot of possession. On the other side we made them work really hard for it, got hands and bodies in over and over, and it really sapped their pack.
The defense was excellent. THe shape to shuffle out and keep snuffing out the wraps took their shape away. but the big change was, when they tried to play tight we absolutely smacked them in hard accurate tackles and stopped all momentum. We took their heart a bit there, and it showed in that incredible last set of phases.
On attack we were pretty pragmatic, happy to have the ball, keep the ball, and make them work. And when opportunity presented itself, we took it.
Scrum was dominant, and Porter rightly pinged repeatedly for his 90 degree scrumming. Our lineout was on point as well. And all that meant we had lots of ball.
It really was an excellent, high quality performance.
And yet, for all that praise, and all that good stuff, we won by 4. Credit to Ireland, they were incredible. I always thought scoreboard pressure would roll Ireland, but they never went away, they never lost faith in their plan, and they were in it right to the death. Every AB surge was met with a riposte. But in the end, we met their shape, and messed it up. Took JGP out of the game. Took their ball running forwards out of the game. And we made them resort to wide passes, to the admittedly still dangerous Lowe and Keenan.
The ABs will look back at this one with a well-earned bit of pride. Job not done, but a major hurdle overcome in a big way
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Maybe being really harsh, but watching this morning and having watched it back, reckon James Lowe more or less showed today why we let him go. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't bad, but he is more Shaun Stevenson/Etene Nanai-Seturo than a Will Jordan.
I actually though Gibson-Park was really good even outside of the try, and Aki was obviously immense. Do think at times we tactically gave up soft metres to Aki in particular to ensure they couldn't freely attack the outside shoulder like they wanted. As opposed to risking being caught short as they folded around we dropped off and made tackles. A feature of Ireland in this tournament has been clean breaks, and without having the numbers, it didn't really feel like there were many, particularly meaningful ones.
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Just on that last Irish possession, that was really smart accurate defense. Shuffled, covered everything, picke their moments to try the turnover. It was tense, but we never looked like breaking. Good shape, hard shoulders, smart play.
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@mariner4life said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
Just on that last Irish possession, that was really smart accurate defense. Shuffled, covered everything, picke their moments to try the turnover. It was tense, but we never looked like breaking. Good shape, hard shoulders, smart play.
Watching it back, the only time they really threatened to break us was when Ringrose hit the line with a bit of acceleration, and in fairness he just about got through. Certainly beat a couple of forwards, but was then scragged by J Barrett I believe.
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@taniwharugby Another angle, You will need a VPN to see it from NZ but he is chipping at Rieko. No doubt Rieko was congratulating him on a stellar carrier -
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@Daffy-Jaffy RI asking him to text him with what movies were on the flight home?
Something really unlikeable about Johnny, but the rest seem good blokes.
One of the nz press even asked Cane about a bit of revenge on POM about his shit Richie comment, Cane just fended it off.
Lowe, Ethan and LF after the match.
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Savea said that he (and others) had been keeping receipts.
I'd say there is the public explanation and the feeling in the sheds from the smile on Fozzie's face when SC got asked that question.
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@frugby said in RWC QF: All Blacks v Ireland:
@taniwharugby Allegedly Rieko.
I can’t blame him. R Ioane does come across as a cock, I can see how other teams wouldn’t like the cut of his gib.
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Highlights with the Brit commentary -
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@Daffy-Jaffy One of the Irish papers (Irish Times) was upset with Reiko for putting his finger to his lips and pointing to an Irish section of the crowd at the final whistle.
I wonder if the incidents were connected?
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