Head Coach Joe Schmidt along with Irish Captain Rory Best’s time among the Ireland setup has ended with a tough and heavy loss to New Zealand in Tokyo.
A number of dropped balls, turnovers, poor running lines and kicking tactics were aplenty in this game, which cost Ireland massively.
The result now makes it a record seventh quarter-final defeat, Schmidt’s men simply didn’t turn up for this huge occasion against the defending Rugby World Cup champions.
Ireland’s handling errors repeatedly invited the All Blacks to attack them, which they did plentifully, while they simply couldn’t live with the mobility, energy, skill level and physicality that New Zealand offered.
Steve Hansen’s side deserves huge credit for the clinic they produced in Tokyo, while from an Irish point of view it looked like a mountain too big to climb right from the kick-off.
Next for New Zealand will be England in the semi-finals of this World Cup next weekend.
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