New Zealand show their mettle as Rugby World Cup reaches business end

PARIS – When the Rugby World Cup reaches the business end New Zealand are always in the mix and on Saturday, Ian Foster’s team once again showed why they can never be written off.

The All Blacks started their campaign with a 27-13 loss to hosts France and in Saturday's quarter-final at the Stade de France they faced a daunting task against Ireland, the top-ranked team who had won their 17 previous Tests.

Some were quick to forget that New Zealand, even if they had lost their two previous matches against the Irish, remain the game’s ultimate challenge.

Said Foster: “Sometimes the sweetest victories are when your opposition play very well and test you to the limit.

“At the end of the day, we played a lot of that game with 14 players. And we looked in control of it.”

The New Zealand Herald described the quarter-final as “one of the great World Cup Tests”.

Another of their headlines said the maligned side had “answered their moment of truth with an astonishing win”.

Despite a shaky opening couple of minutes, the three-time champions were brutally efficient on the back of a barbed-wire defence to prevail 28-24 at the end of a nerve-racking contest to advance to the semi-finals, where they will meet Argentina on Friday.

While Ireland made some poor choices – opting not to kick an early penalty, insisting on not going wide – the All Blacks converted almost every time they had a sniff of the line with tries by Leicester Fainga’anuku, Ardie Savea and Will Jordan.

They kicked their early penalties, too, to take the initiative and Ireland were never ahead.

Andy Farrell’s side put their opponents on the back foot but New Zealand made 226 tackles and battled hard when they were down to 14 after Aaron Smith’s and Codie Taylor’s yellow cards.

“I don’t think we allowed ourselves to get rattled out there,” said captain Sam Cane.

“There was a real air of calmness. Even on the bus, when we got to the changing rooms, I was thinking, ‘Hopefully, this is a good thing’. We know how we want to play, we know what we’re about now and we were clear on what we needed to do.”

It was quite fitting that the All Blacks wrapped up the victory having withstood a 40-phase Irish possession spell after the clock had turned red.

“Our ability to defend our line for 30-plus phases at the end, that’s huge,” Cane said. “The defence was outstanding tonight. We were able to hold them out for long periods and I think ultimately that’s what won it for us.”

Coach Foster also gave credit to his team’s heroic defence.

“Our defence, particularly in that last part, was brilliant,” he said. “We were disciplined, we held our cool. I thought defensively, we made some shifts and found a way of stopping their line breaks coming to us.

“It just became a game of patience in the end and we did it well.”

Former All Blacks greats Mils Muliaina and John Kirwan said that Cane and Foster deserved praise for the fighting nature of the win.

“All the adversity and hurt. You’ve got to go through some of that to come out and perform the way they did today,” Muliaina told local broadcaster Sky.

“The desperation that they showed at the end there, they stayed connected and they believed.

“For Sam Cane, for all that he’s been through, and Ian Foster, they’ve been through hard times and they’ve turned that around into something special.”

Kirwan added: “Ireland were outstanding right to the death but even with the yellow cards, our guys stayed calm, they stayed disciplined. This team have come together, they’re peaking at the right time and they showed incredible courage.”

The result left Ireland outside the door to the semi-finals once again, with the players walking around the pitch to salute their more than 60,000 fans looking groggy and dejected.

Captain Johnny Sexton admitted that New Zealand’s efficiency was brutal.

“They sucker punched us on a few tries and that’s what champion teams do,” he said.

“New Zealand are the best team at taking the game away from you,” added Farrell. REUTERS, AFP