Rugby World Cup 2019: Defeat by New Zealand confirmed the writing on the wall – time to press restart on Ireland’s fading era
So, Ireland bow out with not so much as a whimper but a limp shrug of the shoulders. After a night that showcased the dispassionate excellence of New Zealand – devastatingly simple, ruthless, cold-blooded – the Irish head home with the haunting familiarities of the past in their rearview mirror.
This was meant to be the campaign in which Ireland finally rewrote their World Cup narrative. Six tournaments had come and gone, each one culminating in the disappointment of a quarter-final departure. This, they said, was going to be different. This, they said, was going to be year they exorcised their demons, the year in which they reached round, grabbed the monkey off their back and kicked it into touch.
But it wasn’t to be. Not when New Zealand were the team lined up on the other side of the tape. From the moment Aaron Smith first crossed the line, 14 minutes on the clock, beads of sweat already dripping down the faces of the Irish, you sensed what was to come: an All Blacks masterclass, and the stuff of nightmares for Ireland.
The writing has been on the wall for a while now. Joe Schmidt’s pursuit of perfection began dovetailing 11 months ago, that 16-9 win over Steve Hansen’s men – the second in three Tests – the coronation that had come too early.
Since then, the signs have been ominous. The Six Nations defeats by England and Wales. The humiliation at Twickenham. Japan’s mesmerising win in Shizuoka, followed by a laboured victory over Russia that, in spite of the 35-0 scoreline, had no-one convinced that the Irish could establish themselves as title contenders.
But the dismissals have come thick and fast – either a fruitless attempt to paper over the cracks or the byproduct of warped delusions. Take Johnny Sexton’s proclamation of positivity earlier this week. “We’ve been building pretty well apart from that poor 60 minutes against Japan; everything else has pretty much gone to plan,” said the fly-half. But wait, it gets better. “I’m hoping that having lost a pool game that we’ve got that quarter-final performance out of our system that we’ve had in other tournaments.” Famous last words.
Which brings us back to the deflation and disappointment of the present. “Heartbroken wouldn’t be too far away from how I and the players feel,” said Schmidt in his post-match press conference, in what will be his last as Ireland coach. Rory Best, who joins Schmidt in stepping down from international duties, echoed the sentiment. “We’ve got a lot of big guys in our team. It’s not often you get a changing room in complete silence,” he said. “There was some of those big men in tears.”
So where did it all go wrong, and where do Ireland go from here? The easy explanation, which leaves less questions asked of the men in green, was that they were simply outfought, outsmarted, outplayed by the superior side. When faced with the dominance of the All Blacks, there are few teams who won’t struggle to push back against the all-consuming waves.
Across the pitch, New Zealand were a picture of blinding brilliance – best encapsulated in Beauden Barrett who, from 15, put in a virtuoso performance that lifted the All Blacks up to the rarefied air that only they inhale. The stats speak for themselves: one try, one assist, 21 carries (more than any other New Zealand player in a World Cup match), and 79 running metres.
But there’s something unquantifiable to the playmaker, something you can’t put a finger on.
When the light bulb switches on, when the two-time world player of the year is on form, you know he’s operating in a different dimension, aware of holes, shapes, lines, geometrics that are indiscernible to the human eye. He can wade through the chaos of a match, join the dots and conjure a moment of magic out of the air – as he repeatedly did in Tokyo.
Then there’s the speed, encapsulated in that gust of pace which saw him surge down the field, hacking at the ball after it been knocked clean out of Sexton’s hands, to dive over in the corner. Ireland were caught cold by their opponents’ rush defence, as was the case for much of the match, and Barrett made sure to duly punish them.
With players such as this operating in a world of their own – Aaron Smith was similarly untouchable at times, so too Sevu Reece and George Bridge – victory was always going to be a fanciful prospect at best.
But it was the nature of defeat which makes for a galling pill to swallow. Because Ireland will know they are better than the lifeless, lacklustre display that was rolled out in the Japanese capital. Of the 15 players who started on Saturday night, 12 had lined up against the All Blacks in November last year. By this measure, Ireland are a team that can, technically, beat the world champions.
Had they turned up, fought hard and offered some degree of resistance, then the fallout from defeat may not have felt so shattering, so seismic. Had they pushed New Zealand to their limits of their talents, Ireland could have departed Japan with some sense of consolation. But the absence of all invention and resilience makes Saturday’s result harder to accept. “It’s deja vu all over again, we shot ourselves in the foot and New Zealand capitalised on it,” admitted Keith Earls afterwards. “It’s hard enough playing against them with our A game, never mind our D game.”
The litany of errors runs long. Sexton’s missed penalty kicks for touch. Countless dropped balls, with Conor Murray, Peter O’Mahoney and many others all guilty. Robbie Henshaw’s failed attempt to gather the kick through to dot down (though he would later make amends for such a transgression, not that it mattered in the slightest).
The refusal to adapt, alongside such careless mistakes, was further confirmation of the stagnancy that has set in within this team. Schmidt had said himself that Ireland were “certainly not going to sneak up on them [the All Blacks] any more; we’re not going to surprise them.” So where is the logic in applying the same game plan regardless? The Irish were devoid of any creativity, trying the same tricks and flicks to outthink a team that knew what was going before it had happened.
Looking forward, this team needs to move on from the past six or so years. Schmidt took this Irish squad to previously uncharted territory, raising them to previously unseen levels. But a ceiling has been reached. The defeat in Tokyo was confirmation of an uncomfortable truth for this squad: the good days are fading. The era shaped by Rory Best, Rob Kearney, Sexton, Murray and the like is coming to an end. It’s up to players such as James Ryan, Jordan Larmour and Jacob Stockdale to now build a new future. It’s time for change.
What Schmidt has achieved won’t be forgotten, but nor will the sense of what could have been. His legacy is in tact but the nature of this loss leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and questions of where all that progress was headed. Because, whether rightly or wrongly, sporting success is always measured by the destination – rather than the journey taken. “You carry your scars a lot more than your successes,” Schmidt reflected afterwards, crestfallen and downbeat. “And the scars are deep and that is why I am broken by it.”
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