All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan and hooker Dane Coles are not keen to repeat history of being knocked out in the 2019 semifinals as they look to take on Argentina this Saturday. Video / NZ Herald
As the clock ran into overtime at Stade de France on Saturday night, it was as if the entire stadium held its collective breath.
Here was Ireland, desperately trying to find one last play against the All Blacks that would salvage their Rugby World Cup aspirations. The two sides had already delivered the greatest-ever quarter-final in the previous 80 minutes, but now the crowd were being treated to a compelling encore.
The conditioning of rugby players has changed beyond recognition since the inception of the World Cup in 1987, but still, it was hard not to wonder how on earth both sides were able to keep going. Ireland’s final attack reached 37 phases before Sam Whitelock reached in to wrestle the ball from Ronan Kelleher and win the decisive penalty.
Ireland had not choked, an accusation that had been flung in their direction for every World Cup since Gordon Hamilton’s fist-raising try had almost caused the game’s greatest upset against eventual 1991 champions Australia at Lansdowne Road.
Andy Farrell’s side had not died wondering. Perhaps they had not given their best performance, and the All Blacks had undoubtedly taken their game to a new level thanks to the detail of former Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt and the motivation of avenging some needless sledging by Irish players during their tour victory in New Zealand last summer. But still. What a game.
Ardie Savea wins a penalty during the quarter-final win over Ireland at Stade de France. Photo / Photosport
The warm-up act had also gone to the wire, with Wales somehow finding a way to lose a game they had been dominating, only for the killer blow to be delivered in the 77th minute when Nicolas Sanchez picked off a pass by Sam Costelow to score an intercept try.
What we could not have known was what was to follow, with England and South Africa prevailing in the second quarter-finals on Sunday with equalling enthralling climaxes.
As it turned out, by Sunday night there were many forwarding a compelling case that the Springboks’ victory over hosts France was the best game they had ever seen.
I have been privileged to cover seven World Cups and the game that has always remained with me as the greatest of all was France’s stunning Christophe Dominici-inspired comeback against the All Blacks, Jonah Lomu et al, in the semifinal of the 1999 tournament.
It takes something when England supporters at Twickenham start singing “Allez les Bleus” in the midst of a ‘beef war’ between the UK and France. But those present knew they were witnessing a red-letter moment.
Yet there is no sense of hyperbole to say that the four quarter-final matches have blown away all previous concepts of what might have been the ‘greatest’ matches. The important point here is that everything is subjective.
Even more importantly is the potential impact on the global game. This World Cup was meant to be the tournament that gave the sport the shot in the arm it so desperately needed, given the downbeat narratives of recent years, including the threat of a lawsuit by former players about head injuries, financial pressures that have led to four leading clubs in England going bust, declining participation numbers in the adult men’s game and the controversy over the reduction of the tackle height.
The four matches last weekend could not have provided a more meaningful antidote to the game’s woes. This was the feel-good moment that showed to a global audience that at its best rugby can rival any sport for drama and connection with its supporters.
What we have seen is that the crackdown on head-to-head collisions has not led to the rash of red cards that many feared. Nor have we seen a dour-kicking contest. Players are being rewarded for keeping the ball alive, for offloading, for looking for space and for innovating.
Who would have thought that South Africa’s stunning victory would have seen a charged down conversion, or Damian Willemse catching a long clearance inside his own 22, calling a mark and then signalling to the referee that South Africa wanted a scrum. Wow. Whatever you think of the Springboks, their appetite for innovation is compelling.
The shame is that we might have seen the best of the tournament already – but does that really matter? Often finals are fraught, nervy affairs that fail to live up to their billing.
And England’s progression to the semifinals – the only unbeaten side left in the tournament – has set up a repeat of the 2019 World Cup final against the Springboks. What a narrative that promises this week.
The concern will be that France’s exit will see the host country swiftly falling out of love with the tournament. And yet the immediate statistics suggest a different story.
On Saturday night, 9.4 million tuned in on TF1 to watch Ireland v New Zealand, making it the best audience of the year without France playing. World Rugby are also anticipating it to be the most spoken-about weekend of rugby on social media ever.
A third of World Rugby’s 1.8 million new social followers since the tournament began are Spanish-speaking while 400,000 are from the USA, which demonstrates the scale of the opportunity in front of the game ahead of the hosting of the World Cup in America in 2031.
That is a story for another day. Right now, rugby supporters have been given a scintillating reason to fall in love with the game again. And hopefully, a new global audience has done so too.
