Junior Rugby World Cup: New Zealand Hold off Ireland to Advance to Semifinals

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 14, 2013

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New Zealand had to withstand a late flurry from a desperate Ireland team to walk away with a 31-26 win and clinch a spot in the semifinals of the Junior Rugby World Cup.

Two yellow cards affected the game immensely, as both teams struggled to hold the other out with only 14 men on the field, and was a key in gaining momentum.

It was this that saw the Baby Blacks shoot out to a 31-11 lead in the first 15 minutes of the second half. After going to the break with a 14-11 lead, the New Zealanders touched down three times early in the second half, two of these coming while Ireland centre Thomas Farrell spent time in the sin bin.

The period saw New Zealand exert total dominance over their opponent, gaining plenty of forward momentum and breaking through the defence at will. On the flip side, the Irish never really got a chance, unable to get their hands on the ball for any length of time and having little opportunity to use it when they did.

You would have been forgiven for thinking the game was all but over at this stage. Despite there being a quarter of the game to go, Ireland just did not look like they were coming back. The New Zealanders were in complete dominance of proceedings, and this dominance did not look like it'd be relinquished. 

Funnier things have happened in rugby games, though, especially in a do-or-die game for both teams. 

And so it happened. New Zealand seemed to go into a lull and for whatever reason did not have that same spark after being in such a commanding position. Ireland, on the other hand, seemed to realise the importance of their situation and rallied.

They dominated territory and possession for most of the last 20 minutes, forcing New Zealand to do plenty of tackling, and were able to manipulate the defence to cross for two tries of their own. In this time New Zealand lost prop Nick Grogan to the sin bin after a series of repeated infringements, which pr...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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