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Wallabies star Len Ikitau surges past World Cup winners in Top 100 rise
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'99 times out of 100': The one minute of mishaps that cost Ireland the ultimate prize
By Ben Smith
Ireland’s infamous 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final became another failed quest in a long list of stumbles at the quarter-final stage for Irish rugby.
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Perhaps the most painful loss, they were the number one ranked team riding a historic winning streak into the Rugby World Cup and came within a whisker of knocking off New Zealand.
Jordie Barrett’s famous tackle on Ireland hooker Ronan Kelleher essentially saved the game for New Zealand towards the end of the game as a minute of errors cost Ireland the chance to take the lead at the death.
The All Blacks were under serious pressure after just conceding a penalty inside their own 22 trying to organise an exit, holding onto a four point lead.
“If New Zealand kept conceding penalties, Ireland were going to kick to the corner,” Rupert Cox says on the Tests of Time docu-series.
“And their lineout drive was probably the best in the world at that time, and it was going to be so, so difficult to defend, you kind of started to feel that the writing was on the wall.”
With the score 28-24 in New Zealand’s favour and the clock winding down, the fans in Stade de France sensed that this was the moment that Ireland were going to hit the lead for the first time with minutes remaining.
“Place is going absolutely crazy with Irish fans, they feel this is the moment. They just scored a penalty try with the rolling maul. Codie Taylor’s in the sin bin,” Cox recalls.
“You’re thinking, ‘There’s no way New Zealand defend this’. They’re four points behind at this point. A try puts Ireland in front in the quarter-final for the first time.”
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“Jordie Barrett comes up with one of the biggest plays of the entire match.”
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Ireland’s replacement hooker Ronan Kelleher detached early from the maul and powered over, crashing into Jordie Barrett defending the try line.
Despite the mismatch, Barrett was able to get his leg underneath the ball and hold Kelleher up which resulted in a turnover and goal line drop out.
“99 times out of 100 that would be a try, but an unbelievable piece of defence from a certain Jordie Barrett gets underneath Ronan Kelleher, and obviously, you know, it ends up being a goal line drop out,” analyst Bernard Jackman says, “New Zealand survive what looked like a certain try for Ireland.”
“That felt like the moment that it had to happen, and it felt like such a big win for New Zealand because it was followed by an error from Ireland,” Murray Kinsella recalls.
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Not only did Ireland miss the try scoring chance but they gave up all momentum when No.8 Caelan Doris knocked on the ensuing goal line dropout.
“It didn’t even go that far, it wasn’t a great chase. Caelan Doris, safest hands you could want in that situation. Drops it cold,” Cox recalls.
“I remember a cutaway to the coaching box. I can’t believe it. Caelan Doris, the look on his face. What just happened? Pressure, I guess, big moment.”
Rupert Cox (Lead Commentator), Murray Kinsella (Journalist), Bernard Jackman (ex-Ireland rugby player and analyst), Daniel Gallan (Journalist) and Johnnie Beattie (ex-Scotland international) breakdown the Ireland vs New Zealand quarter-final from the 2023 Rugby World Cup in the first episode of the cinematic stories “Tests of Time”, debuting on RugbyPass YouTube and RugbyPass TV on Wednesday evening 7pm GMT.
