Rugby World Cup 2023: Comparing All Blacks and Ireland’s starkly different quarter-final records

Ardie Savea in action during the 2019 quarter-final win over Ireland. Photo / Photosport

The All Blacks head into Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final with the best record at this stage of the tournament. Ten times previously, New Zealand have reached the quarter-final stage, progressing on all but one occasion. Ireland, meanwhile, have never moved beyond the quarters. Does that mean anything ahead of Sunday’s clash in Paris? Not really, with recent history more in favour for Ireland, having won 17 straight tests. But the quarter-final hurdle, never cleared, remains.

Here’s a look back on the two teams’ histories in the quarters.

All Blacks in quarter-finals

Played 10, won 9, lost 1. Points for 325, points against 130.

1987: All Blacks 30, Scotland 3

Grant Fox kicked six penalties, along with two conversions, in a dominant performance by the ′87 side. At the time it was Scotland’s largest defeat to the All Blacks.

1991: All Blacks 29, Canada 13

Looks close on the scoreboard but this was the four-point try days. Though, on reflection, a big sign that the All Blacks weren’t going to repeat their success of four years earlier. Gary Whetton set a new record for most tests for an All Black - 56. To put that in a modern perspective, Joe Moody has played 57.

1995: All Blacks 48, Scotland 30

Again not the best defensive effort as the All Blacks conceded the most points in a test since 1978. Jonah Lomu made an immediate impact, setting up a Walter Little try, while Doddie Weir scored twice for Scotland. Lomu and Weir: such big impacts off the field, gone too soon. In the end, a comfortable quarter-final win, a trend for the All Blacks, with one obvious exception.

1999: All Blacks 30, Scotland 18

Due to the quarter-final playoffs phase, Scotland had just four days to prepare for the All Blacks after defeating Samoa. John Hart’s men were coming off a 10-day break, including some R&R in Nice. The All Blacks scored 17 points in the first 15 minutes and the result was decided. To their credit, Scotland were the stronger team in the second half as the All Blacks took their foot off the pedal.

2003: All Blacks 29, South Africa 9

The All Blacks went into the quarter-final in Melbourne having won six straight over the Springboks and continued the dominance with a big effort up front, despite South Africa having a bigger pack. The winning margin should have actually been more. Keven Mealamu sealed the win with a 20-metre run before Carlos Spencer did a through-the-legs pass to Joe Rokocoko to set up another try late in the game.

2007: All Blacks 18, France 20

The one blip on the All Blacks’ quarter-final resume. A shock defeat to the French in Cardiff which, yes, did have Wayne Barnes in charge. The fact the New Zealand coaches failed to settle on key combinations in pool play came back to haunt them at the Millennium Stadium. They were up 13-3 at the break and, after France fought back to level the scores, it then appeared the All Blacks were booking a semifinal with England when Rodney So’oialo crossed to make it 18-13 with 17 minutes to play. Barnes and his assistants missed a forward pass and France took the lead. Barnes then became public enemy No 1 in New Zealand as the nation failed to face the truth. The All Blacks never looked confident either with the lead or trailing late and should have put that France side away, after beating them 61-10 four months earlier, especially on neutral territory. Easily the worst jersey ever worn by the All Blacks.

2011: All Blacks 33, Argentina 10

You can’t win them all with tries, which is a tough thing to accept for All Blacks fans but a World Cup knockout win is a World Cup knockout win. Colin Slade suffered an injury which led to the famous Stephen Donald call-up. Piri Weepu kicked seven penalties (leading to “Keep calm, Piri’s on”, possibly the first World Cup meme) and it wasn’t until the 66th minute that the All Blacks scored a try.

2015: All Blacks 62, France 13

France were in it for 10 minutes and then it all started to click for the All Blacks.

The Retallick charge-down runaway. The Nehe Milner-Skudder sidestep. The Carter backflick pass to Julian Savea. Every try as good as the next. France remained in the fight, despite earlier injuries, until Ben Smith chased down and caught a high Carter midfield bomb, quick ball from Aaron Smith shifted play through Retallick and then to Savea, who ran through three tackle attempts like sticks of baguettes. There was no France comeback this time, especially not after No 8 Louis Picamoles was yellow-carded for a punch to the face of a prone McCaw. Again and again the All Blacks kept scoring in the second half. At one point, when a charging Charlie Faumuina broke free and offloaded to Read, fans would have been mistaken for thinking it was a dream - 62 points is the most a side has ever scored at the knockout stage of the Rugby World Cup. The All Blacks’ for-against in the three quarter-finals since 2007 is 141-37.

2019: All Blacks 46, Ireland 14

With the final pool game against Italy cancelled, the All Blacks went into this quarter-final having not played in 13 days - and that was a romp over Namibia. Ireland had also beaten the All Blacks twice in their three previous encounters, so there was a fair bit of concern. But the All Blacks ran riot at Tokyo Stadium with a superbly-executed game plan that took away Ireland’s rush defence. An Aaron Smith double and a Beauden Barrett special made it 22-0 after 32 minutes, and Ireland had little chance of a comeback at the break. Any hope was crushed when Codie Taylor went over eight minutes after halftime. Seven tries to one. A near-complete performance, but overshadowed by the dud in the semifinal.

Ireland in quarter-finals

Played 7, won 0, lost 7. Points for 110, points against 242.

1987 - Ireland 15, Australia 33

Ireland faced the co-hosts in Sydney after finishing second in their group behind Wales. Australia lost Nick Farr-Jones in the first minute but still scored 25 points in the first 24 minutes and it was over. Ireland at least won the second half 15-9.

1991 - Ireland 18, Australia 19

Four years later and the tables were turned as Ireland played host to the Wallabies. But it was the same result as Michael Lynagh denied the Irish with a late try before kicking a wide conversion to pinch it. Australia went on to claim a maiden title.

1995 - Ireland 12, France 36

Ireland finished second in their group behind the All Blacks and failed to fire in the quarter-final in Durban. Eric Elwood kicked four penalties but his counterpart Thierry Lacroix kicked eight, while France also crossed the line twice.

2003 - Ireland 21, France 43

France again and a shocking start again. France got out to a 27-0 lead at halftime, which was extended to 37-0 after the break before Ireland finally got on the board with a Kevin Maggs try in the 52nd minute. Ireland didn’t give up and scored twice more, but another dud under the roof in Melbourne.

2011 - Ireland 10, Wales 22

Ireland went into the clash at Wellington Stadium as favourites after a superb win over the Wallabies at Eden Park to top the group. Wales scored the only try of the first half to lead 10-3 at the break. Keith Earls got Ireland back in it shortly after the break with a try in the corner, with Ronan O’Gara converting from the sideline to tie it up. Wales took over to score two more tries and knock out their Six Nations rivals.

Bradley Davies of Wales celebrates after the final whistle in the 2011 quarter-final win over Ireland. Photo / Paul Estcourt

2015 - Ireland 20, Argentina 43

The Irish topped their group for the second straight tournament after beating France 24-9 in the final pool game. That should have given them plenty of confidence against Argentina, who looked pretty good in their defeat to the All Blacks. Just three minutes in and Argentina drew first blood when Matías Moroni scored in the right-hand corner. Six minutes later, the Pumas were in again when Juan Imhoff chased down a kick to score their second. Nicolás Sánchez took over with the boot to put Argentina 20-3 up, before Ireland finally scored in the 27th minute through a Luke Fitzgerald break and again after halftime to make it 20-17. Game on? Nope. Argentina dominated the final 20 minutes to book a semifinal spot and deny the Irish again.

2019: Ireland 14, All Blacks 46

Didn’t really get a look-in after the All Blacks made such a fast start. Second quarter-final in a row they’ve conceded 40+ points.

All Blacks v Ireland

8am, Sunday

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