New Zealand 46-14 Ireland: Rugby World Cup quarter-final report, match highlights and scorers

New Zealand 46-14 Ireland

New Zealand tries: A Smith (2); B Barrett, C Taylor; Todd; J Barrett
New Zealand conversions: Mo'unga (3)
New Zealand penalties: Mo'unga

Ireland tries: Henshaw, Penalty try
Ireland conversions: Carbery
Ireland penalties:

Match highlights

Match report

Ireland were one of just two nations to defeat the All Blacks in the last 12 months, however they were overpowered throughout the 80 minutes as they yet again failed to make it past the quarter-final stages.

The All Blacks led 22-0 at the break through a brace from scrum-half Aaron Smith, twice going in at close range after constant New Zealand pressure on the Irish line.

Beauden Barrett added a third before the break, with Codie Taylor, Matt Todd, George Bridge and Jordie Barrett crossing in the second half, while a Robbie Henshaw effort and a penalty try were late consolations for a hurting, woeful Ireland.

New Zealand will now face England in next weekend's semi-final, who earlier defeated Australia 40-16, in a repeat of the 1995 semi-final.

England have lost all three World Cup contests against the All Blacks and will be underdogs in this latest encounter after such an impressively scary display from the double world champions.

Ireland had beaten New Zealand in their last meeting in November 2018, and despite failing to live up to those standards this year it was felt Ireland could cause a shock if they rediscovered such form.

But it was clear early on that Steve Hansen's side wanted hard revenge for that defeat and set about destroying Ireland in Joe Schmidt's final game in charge. It is now 10 years since New Zealand lost consecutive games against the same nation - 2009 against South Africa.

After a scrappy opening 10 minutes, which was littered with handling errors and penalties, the All Blacks started to move through the gears, dominate and pressure the Irish line.

That pressure told as Aaron Smith scrambled over under the posts from close range, after dummying to throw the ball wide. Riche Mo'unga hit the simple conversion to add to his earlier penalty.

Smith was celebrating his second try before the 20 minute mark, again going over from close range in the left corner after Ireland's defence had again been breached by a sweeping Kiwi move from right to left, which saw Irish defenders just manage to bring down Sevu Reece inches from their own line, before Smith pounced again.

The Irish, who beat New Zealand in their last meeting in November 2018, were a shadow of that side, making sloppy mistakes and displaying poor handling skills.

It was that weak skillset that allowed the Kiwis in for try number three, dropping the ball while on the attack down their opponent's left, allowing the ball to be kicked on and full-back Barrett raced onto the ball to touchdown. The move was reviewed for an age to check the New Zealander tackler had not knocked the ball forward to force the turnover, but the replay confirmed it was just another handling error from a woeful Ireland side.

The first half was summed for up Joe Schmidt's side as right on half time they earned two penalties on the New Zealand line, only to have the second reversed for Peter O'Mahony silly shoulder barge at the ruck.

Any faint hopes of a magically comeback in the second period were quickly crushed as the double world champions continued to twist the knife, combining brute force from their forward with beautiful quick hands and offloading skills from 1-15.

It meant Ireland couldn't get close to their opponents, allowing Taylor, sub Todd and hooker Taylor to all go in from great overloads from a teammate.

Ireland should be credited for a late surge, showing great heart, fight and spirit to score twice in the closing 10 minutes, first from Henshaw and then a penalty try, which CJ Stander stopped illegally by Matt Todd as he went to the line, resulting in Todd's sin binning.

Despite being one man down, New Zealand had the final say, as Jordie Barrett drove over in the right corner after being set up by his brother Beauden from a long pass against a shattered and broken the Irish defence.

It was a painful and shameful end for Schmidt, who leaves his role with Ireland after this game, who has guided such improvement in the Irish during his reign, but huge questions need to be asked to why Ireland continue to peak between World Cups.

There are no such questions for New Zealand to answer, who look in fine form to take their third world crown in a row.

Match reaction

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt said: "We turned the ball over, but we missed opportunities to get into their zone and really put some pressure on.

"We kind of gave them a leg up and, when they get a points differential like they had, you are chasing the game.

"When you chase the game, you take risks that, if you are not executing perfectly, they're going to capitalise on the back of it."

"When you reach a height, there is always a risk that you're going to just slip off that height a little bit. I don't think it was any complacency or anything else. I think we made a target of ourselves, certainly teams went after us a little bit more.

"We had been able to kind of sneak up on New Zealand a couple of times, and sneak up on a few other teams."