Ireland avoid NZ but suffer big injuries
Ireland avoided a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against the defending champion All Blacks by beating France 24-9 to secure first place in Pool D on Sunday — but victory came at a cost for the Six Nations champions.
Star first five Jonny Sexton, captain Paul O’Connell and flanker Peter O’Mahony all went off injured — the latter two on motorised stretchers — to likely leave the Irish without three of their most important players for a last-eight game against Argentina next weekend.
Raising their intensity to levels previously unseen from them this tournament, the Irish led 9-6 at halftime and then scored tries through fullback Rob Kearney and halfback Conor Murray. The noise and the predominance of green under the Millennium Stadium’s closed roof made it feel like the game could have been in Dublin.
Ireland won all their pool games, justifying their pre-World Cup tag of Europe’s leading contender. Many pundits predicted that the Irish had been saving themselves for this game, and they produced easily their best performance of the World Cup.
The French were blown away after the break and their first loss in the pool stage set up a quarterfinal against New Zealand, back in Cardiff on Saturday. Eight years ago, the teams met at the same stage, in the same stadium and on the same night — and France won 20-18 in one of the most memorable wins at a World Cup. France also upstaged New Zealand in the 1999 World Cup semifinals, and had a narrow defeat in the final four years ago. France’s points on Sunday came from three penalties and they didn’t come close to scoring a try.
Ireland will face a stern challenge from an ever-improving Argentina who enjoyed a nine-try romp over Namibia to win 64-19 at the Leicester City Stadium.
It was a comfortable day out for the Pumas, who were simply too fast and physical for the African side.
‘‘We knew we had to play well against Namibia and we did that, even though there were mistakes,’’ Argentina captain Martin Landajo said. ‘‘Now we can think about the quarter-finals, though I can honestly say I don’t care if we play Ireland or France. We will see who we get.’’