RUGBY UNION KYLE HIGH CLUB Sinckler keeps his cool as Aussie sledging backfires
All Blacks destroy the Irish dream
SHELL-SHOCKED Joe Schmidt was left broken by Ireland’s World Cup quarterfinal meltdown against the All Blacks.
The tenure of the most successful Ireland coach in history ended with a humiliating 46-14 drubbing in Tokyo Stadium.
Now the 53-year-old’s legacy will include failure to reach the semi-finals on two occasions.
“You tend to carry your scars a lot more than your successes and those scars are deep,” said Schmidt.
“That’s why I’m a little bit broken. When I get some distance to reflect on maybe 75 Test matches and we’ve won 74 per cent of them, there have been some incredibly good days.
“Heartbroken wouldn’t be too far away from how I feel and how the players feel right now.”
Schmidt admitted that after beating the All Blacks last November, a place in the last four of the World Cup was the target.
But Ireland started badly and never recovered. They handed the initiative to the All Blacks, who didn’t need a second invitation to bury opponents that had become rivals.
Ireland made a succession of handling errors and turned over possession on 17 occasions. They were lambs to the slaughter and the All Blacks romped home with seven tries.
Sorcery
The malady even took hold of Johnny Sexton, who crucially failed to find touch with three penalties.
Ireland were 22-0 down at half-time. Aaron Smith sniped in for a brace of tries by the 20th minute – the second was pure All Blacks backline sorcery.
Then Sexton was robbed of possession by a borderline Sevu Reece tackle, the superb Richie Mo’unga hacked downfield and man of the match Beauden Barrett kicked ahead to score.
Ireland had a chance to reply before half-time but ref Nigel Owens pinged Peter O’mahony in a ruck, reversing a penalty near the All Blacks line.
Skipper Kieran Read’s off-load off the floor put Codie Taylor under the posts in the 48th minute and a fifth try followed great work by the forwards before Mo’unga’s cross-kick found Reece and Matt Todd barrelled over.
Summing up Ireland’s night, Robbie Henshaw failed to score when he raced on to Joey Carbery’s grubber. ELLIOT DALY
Fumble gave up possession for Marika Koroibete’s try ANTHONY WATSON
Nimble footwork down the right wing caused Australia problems HENRY SLADE
Quick-thinking assist for second try, but a couple of mistakes MANU TUILAGI
Hands full with Kerevi as battle for midfield ended in a score draw JONNY MAY
Marked his 50th cap in style with two tries, but had a twinge at end OWEN FARRELL (C)
Controversial to leave Ford out, but the captain was outstanding BEN YOUNGS
Solid job controlling matters from the base of the scrum
MAKO VUNIPOLA
Lightly raced after his hamstring problems, but stayed the pace JAMIE GEORGE
Extra snaffler at the breakdown and good job at set piece
KYLE SINCKLER
Took great flat line for secondhalf try and supplied key turnover MARO ITOJE
A one-man no-go zone. Mightily strong presence around the ruck COURTNEY LAWES
Another to put the Wallabies into reverse with hard-hitting defence TOM CURRY
All-action contribution from England’s man of the match
SAM UNDERHILL
Topped the tackle count. Set the tone for England’s defensive show BILLY VUNIPOLA
Left everything out there, despite not being at full tilt
New Zealand 46 Ireland
14
REPLACEMENTS: Cowan-dickie 6, Marler 6, Cole 6, Kruis 7, Ludlam 7, Heinz 6, Ford 7, Joseph 6
Alex Spink
HISTORY repeated itself as ruthless England stormed into the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup – with a helping hand from Australia.
Twelve years after beating the Wallabies to reach the last four in France, England did so again to set up a semi-final with New Zealand.
Remarkably, just as on that day in Marseille, the catalyst for victory was an act of Aussie sledging that backfired.
In 2007 two Wallaby forwards patted hooker Mark Regan on the head after an England scrum was penalised – prompting the immortal riposte: “Hang on babs. You’ve got another 75 minutes to go yet.”
Treatment
Yesterday it was Kyle Sinckler getting the head- pat, this time from Aussie hooker Tolu Latu (above), after conceding a free-kick with an early scrum shove. A dozen years on and the outcome was just the same. England got mad, then they got even (right, dejected Jordan Uelese).
There was a time not so long ago when Sinckler would have got riled, certainly having something to say to Latu. Instead, like Regan before him, he let his rugby do his talking – first with England’s crucial third try, then by winning a turnover on his own line to protect the victory.
“That’s something I’ve really tried to own... my discipline and just being cool in the moment,” said the Harlequins prop. “That comes with experience.”
Later Eddie Jones would dub Sinckler a
“runaway rhino”.
Team- mate Joe
Marler preferred a
“young runaway bull”.
Either way Australia got the gist.
They had been s wept away after t heir strong start, dominated by
Sinckler and ‘Kamikaze
Kids’ Tom Curry and Sam
Underhill in the most emphatic fashion.
Jonny May marked his 50th cap with two tries in two minutes at the end of the first quarter, Anthony Watson bagged an interception score and captain Owen Farrell silenced his critics by slotting all eight of his shots at goal. But nobody gave more than Sinckler, 26, erasing the memory of losing his rag in Cardiff in the Six Nations after being wound up by
Wales boss Warren Gatland.
Energy
“There have been in the past questions about Kyle’s emotional energy, which is what he thrives off,” said Marler.
“In t he Six Nations he wasn’t able
to