Ireland failed again at the quarter final stage in the Rugby World Cup. After a horrible opening 20 minutes, when conceded 2 tries and 2 penalties, they had managed to crawl their way back into the match at 23-20. The lack of leadership became very evident, Ireland were dominating the match at this crucial stage but could not take the opportunities that came their way. Instead, Argentina got the next score and from here on there was only one winner. Ireland actually didn’t score for the remainder of the match.
The damage was done in the first half, Ireland really look out of sorts and failed to hit the ground running. Argentina out of the blocks early, hitting every tackle with total commitment, the defence exceptionally tight leaving no openings and the backs showing flair and creativity that we can only admire. Unfortunately when Ireland realised they were in a match it was to late with the gap too large.
Why did this happen? Two possible reasons maybe. The obvious reason being Ireland were missing a third of the team, and guys missing we’re all the best, experience players playing in pivotal positions. We can talk about having big enough squads and replacements just as good. But could any team in the world in any sport lose their 4 best players with the most experience and expect to turn out similar performances? Strip New Zealand a third of their team and see they perform. The reality is that to win these tournaments you need a great team and a great amount of luck. Ireland had no luck at all, were injuries concerned, intact they had downright cruel luck.
The second reason we are out of the World Cup was not what happened at the match on Sunday, but a week earlier against France. Ireland and France were preparing for the game for the last 12 months. It was billed as the passport to an easier quarter final. How wrong was everybody. There was high emotion going into that game, motivation was high, tackles and collisions were furious, passions and tempers were boiling over. The result was battered and bruised bodies who had given their all. Energies were low and week is not enough for sufficient recover and mentally get prepared for another huge match of similar intensity.
Where France was Ireland’s World Cup Final, Ireland was Argentina’s World Cup Final. Argentina knew realistically they would be Playing Ireland or France in the quarter final and that would be the important match. OK the played New Zealand but were they ever going to beat them and more importantly did they expect to beat them. With 2-3 weeks recover that ample time to get ready for the quarter final.