NZ Herald's Rugby World Cup news show Beyond the Game sees Cheree Kinnear and Elliott Smith unpack the All Blacks' victory over Ireland in their quarter-final match.
Video / NZ Herald / Sky Sport
By Liam Napier in Paris
To reach their final frontier the All Blacks must first overcome sport’s greatest mental hurdle – descending from the great euphoric height of elite success to rise again for the next immediate summit.
World Cups leave little time for celebrations, no room for dips in performance. Not until the job is complete.
While the All Blacks savoured their engrossing victory – one that ranks among their best knockout wins – a compressed six-day turnaround before their semifinal against the Pumas demands the focus rapidly shifts.
The parallels between the All Blacks commanding 2019 quarterfinal win over Ireland and their crushing semifinal defeat to England in Yokohama will be widely cast. On that occasion, the All Blacks fell well short of the required mental edge to match their highly motivated opposition.
A litany of other examples points to the premise the All Blacks now face.
In 2011 the All Blacks produced their best performance of their home World Cup against Australia in the semifinal. A week later they survived a teeth-gnashing final to prevail by one point over France and break New Zealand’s 24-year World Cup drought.
Four years later arguably the greatest All Blacks team in history obliterated France in a revenge-inspired performance in their World Cup quarter-final in Cardiff. They then scraped past the Springboks in the semifinal thanks to a Sam Whitelock lineout steal and Dan Carter dropped goal in driving rain at Twickenham.
Ian Foster’s All Blacks have been there, too. Last year’s Ellis Park triumph will forever be marked as the victory that saved Foster’s tenure. In their homecoming match two weeks later, after New Zealand Rugby confirmed Foster to lead the team through to the World Cup, the All Blacks suffered a sudden comedown with their first home defeat to Argentina. No one predicted that upset in Christchurch.
Argentina players celebrate winning the Rugby Championship game in Christchurch. Photosport
No two tests or occasions are ever the same. This is why the satisfaction derived from the All Blacks compelling efforts against Ireland must fast fade from internal view.
“When I think back to the last two years and what we’ve been through as a team... everyone wrote us off. We just had to be the best on the day. We targeted this game and really wanted to make our mark and come with an intensity that would be overwhelming for them,” All Blacks playmaker Richie Mo’unga said in the immediate aftermath of their rousing quarter-final success.
“The next challenge is how consistent can we be and how can we put that into back-to-back performances.
“There’s a bit of fire in the belly and wanting to do exactly that to fulfil the potential of this team. The outcome if we do that is winning the World Cup. That’s what we want to do.
“It’s about building that fire again. We targeted this game but the ultimate goal is to win this World Cup. We know what we have to do and that’s next week.”
The consistency Mo’unga highlights has been a constant struggle for the All Blacks in this cycle. Earlier this year, while marching through the Rugby Championship unbeaten, the All Blacks grasped the ability to deliver repeat performances only to stumble in successive defeats to the Springboks and France after arriving in Europe.
Ireland are a vastly superior team to Argentina which sparks a subconscious complacency danger.
The weak nature of the opposite side of the World Cup draw pushes the notion the All Blacks should stroll into the final from here. Retiring Irish captain Johnny Sexton suggested as much when he said of the All Blacks: “They’ve got Argentina in the semis so likely in the final and then anything can happen.”
While memories of recent defeats linger in their last two meetings the All Blacks dispatched the Pumas 41-12 in Mendoza three months ago and 53-3 in Hamilton last year – the week after their Christchurch loss.
The All Blacks didn’t need to dig deep to summon the strategy or desire to extend Ireland’s World Cup quarterfinal hoodoo in Paris.
Ireland, after last year’s series victory in New Zealand, were the All Blacks’ nemesis to stir a natural emotive resolve.
That series proved formative in reshaping the All Blacks. Much of the planning and preparation for the World Cup was built around Ireland, France and South Africa.
Now, as defence coach Scott McLeod noted, the All Blacks must descend to ground zero for the Pumas.
“Last week our detail, energy and focus was top class,” McLeod said. “It gave the players confidence to execute that, and feel that under pressure. In 2019 we didn’t do that as well in our week leading into England.
“It’s not necessarily the opposition. It’s the quality of what we put into the week. In 2019 our captain Kieran Read couldn’t train, there were disruptions, so we have to make sure we don’t have those and we build the week with quality and focus. We respect Argentina. They’re a different beast to Ireland.
“It’s about staying in the moment. We’ve talked a lot about that leading into this tournament. Last night we wanted to enjoy the moment. It was a huge occasion. We respected Ireland so much so to overcome them we wanted to enjoy that. There were loads of family here so we relaxed with them. Then it’s quickly shifting into the moment and getting excited about what’s next. We’re going into a World Cup semifinal against an opposition that’s really different.”
Liam Napier has been a sports journalist since 2010, and his work has taken him to World Cups in rugby, netball and cricket, boxing world title fights and Commonwealth Games.
