New Zealand 46-14 Ireland rugby LIVE RESULT: All Blacks hammer Irish to set up mouthwatering England semi-final – The Sun
NEW ZEALAND showed Ireland what it really means to be world No1 as they humiliated Joe Schmidt's side in Tokyo.
England — their semi-final opponents — beware.
Ireland were suffocated and strangled by the defending world champs and put in one of the most impressive performances in Rugby World Cup history.
Aaron Smith got the All Blacks under way with two first-half tries and Beauden Barrett, Codie Taylor, Matt Todd, George Bridge and Jordie Barrett added to the tally with seven tries in total.
It was a humiliating end to the career of captain Rory Best and outgoing Irish coach Joe Schmidt, but New Zealand were simply magnificent.
Crestfallen Schmidt might have thought he was doing a walk of shame as he headed down to the pitch on 80 minutes, but every Ireland fan along the way lifted him every step of the way.
They gave him pats on the back and shakes of the hand — because despite this evisceration, Irish rugby is in a better state now than when he arrived in 2013.
BRIAN O'DRISCOLL says on ITV: “It's an incredibly emotional time regardless of what's happened.
“Nobody gets to write their exit.
“Very few people are lucky enough to walk away on a winning team or having won silverware.
“Dan Carter and Richie McCaw in 2015.
“The fairytale ending is rare, but what an incredible servant he has been over the last 10 years.
“I can only imagine what sort of shape his body is in.
“Playing in the front row for 124 caps is no easy task, he deserves this retirement, it's just a shame it has to be under these circumstances.”
He adds, needing a pause for composure: “I've loved every minute of it.”
Rory Best is trying to keep his composure.
His last act as Ireland captain before retirement is to do this post-match interview.
He says: “I suppose firstly I'd like to thank this unbelievable crowd, the Irish, as always it started off with an incredible atmosphere, it was brilliant.
“The All Blacks were fantastic tonight, we felt we'd prepared well all week, we felt we had a game plan, we felt we had enough in our armory to beat them.
“But they just came out of the blocks and put us on the back foot and like good sides do they never let us come off that.
“I think they were just really clinical, they didn't let us get on the front foot.
“It's a front-foot game in knock-out rugby and they boys that are here will look at this and see how to get better.
“You have to give enormous credit to the All Blacks, they were fantastic tonight.”
It's the end of an era for certain Ireland stars as well.
Joe Schmidt is off.
Rory Best is retiring.
What of Johnny Sexton? He's 34 now and not getting any younger.
This post-mortem is going to be brutal for Ireland.
It's not been pretty.
They were the No1 team in the world 12 months ago.
But that was 12 months ago.
They have been completely and utterly humbled by the All Blacks today.
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