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The lessons the All Blacks learned after 2019 quarter-final win over Ireland
By Finn Morton
The All Blacks made a statement with a 46-14 quarter-final win over Ireland at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, but the New Zealanders were bested a week later against England.
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It all started with an Owen Farrell smirk, too. The English playmaker accepted the challenge of the haka, and that response set the tone for what ended up being a famous 19-7 win in Yokohama.
Four years later, with the pain of defeat still fresh in their minds, the All Blacks are in an eerily similar situation. New Zealand beat Ireland 28-24 in a thriller at Stade de France on Saturday and they’ll face southern hemisphere rivals Argentina in a semi-final next week.
The All Blacks “have already been thinking about” how they avoid repeating history by backing up their headline-grabbing victory over Ireland with another strong performance in the semi-finals.
“I guess an answer from me would be the week and the way we prepare during that week,” assistant coach Scott McLeod told reporters. “I thought last week our detail and our energy and our focus was top class and it gave the players confidence to go out and execute that.
“2019, we didn’t do that as well in our week leading into England. It’s not necessarily the opposition, it’s just the quality of what we put into the week. There were a couple of bits and pieces there, our captain Kieran Read couldn’t train and there were disruptions.
“So, we have to make sure that we don’t have those disruptions and we build the week with the quality and the focus that we did last week.”
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McLeod confirmed that there were no “significant” injuries to report after New Zealand’s tense win over world No. 1 Ireland. Coach Ian Foster also confirmed earlier in the week that Mark Telea would be available for a semi after being stood down for the Irish showdown.
The All Blacks got off to a rocky start against Ireland with Aaron Smith throwing an uncharacteristically poor pass and some of his teammates made clear errors as well. It wasn’t an idyllic start as the New Zealanders began to settle into knockout footy.
But once they found their groove, the All Blacks were on. Richie Mo’unga kicked an early penalty goal and a Leicester Fainga’anuku try shortly saw the Kiwis race out to a commanding lead. But Ireland refused to throw in the towel, although they failed to snatch the lead from their opponents.
With the try-line in sight, it came down to 37 phases of attacking pressure from the Irish at the death. Veteran Sam Whitelock won a breakdown penalty for the All Blacks and the rest is history.
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“We had to make 276 tackles last night and 100 of those were in the last quarter, and particularly in that last 37 phases. You know, the most we’ve had to make in this tournament, or attempt to make was 137 against Italy,” McLeod added.
“So, there’s a huge amount of care and a huge amount of ticker I guess, Kiwi ticker in you like, that we wanted to get the job done. I am really proud of our execution in that zone but also our decision-making. The ball wasn’t there to take a number of times and we had to wait for the moment and then execute really well. You know, Sam Whitelock put himself in the position twice to do that and so did Ardie [Savea] and we finally got it.
“We finally got it after that 37th phase and the boys are really happy with that.”
