"I started a joke, that started the whole world ......" | Ireland v New Zealand.

Look I do consider it to be absolutely nuts to be holding the draw 3 years before the tournament begins. I always did and said about 20 years ago that such a scenario like what happened in 2023 was an inevitability. FIFA do the football WC draws six months in advance. I think UEFA did the Euro2020 draw three months from the tournament.

Nevertheless it is what it is.

They have plans, I believe, to change the timing of the draw for the next RWC although that is no comfort to Ireland today.

The yellow for deliberate knock on was a marginal call and if we had received it would have gone bonkers. The shoulder to Aki was inexplicable and a step backwards for player safety similar to the Welsh game. I suspect if we had played with 14 players for 20 mins the result would have been more conclusive and reflected the actual component parts of the game we came up short in. Moments which summed up last night there was a ball out and Bealim I think took that moment to check and it was lost then Beirne got a ball at the end and just stood still momentarily. The lack of fluidity was the challenge.

I saw what happened, twice now as I watched it on +1 and it wasn't remotely 'bottling'.

It was a titanic struggle between two teams who made mistakes and had moments of brilliance and it came down to one score.

Also, if someone came onto boards and made a pre match prediction that ireland woukd play for 20minutes with a extra man advantage and still lose, they'd have been roundly abused and laughed at for being ridiculous. The fact it actually happened really is quite a stunning scenario.

Man, this has to be one of the funniest threads I've read in a while.

From the hysterical Father Ted "that's it, we're fecked" stuff in the first twenty minutes after NZ's first try, to the assured chorus of "take the three points!!" only for Gibson Park to score from this decision just before halftime.

The drama!!

Back to see what gold the second half comments have to offer. 😭

The draw was done in 2019 as far as i'm concerned as that was what the seedings were based on. It was inevitable and what annoyed me is even before this RWC the draw was done too early but even if it was done at the end of 2020, like in normal cases, France or Ireland would have joined SA/NZ in pot 1 ensuring that the risk of such a lopsided draw was nullified. The draw in future needs to be done a year or so out, the reasons given to not do this are nonsensical, having a draw a year or so out works in football it works in rugby. At work I explained to one of my Arab work colleagues who isn't a rugby fan at all the situation of the draw and she almost laughed at it, if she can see how nonsensical this draw is then World Rugby have no excuses.

It was only the first 20 minutes of the match that was bottled.........Like I stated some of our seasoned professionals who have won everything except the WC looked terribly nervous before and after the anthems. I was very worried when I saw their faces and wondered if they'd been mentally prepared for this match as elite sport is very much about goes on inside heads as well as the athleticism required to win the match or event.

Absolute bullsh!t! They didn't join any of the previous teams who did collapse. This team had the spirit to perform brilliantly and drag themselves back into a game that was showing all signs of going beyond them. I'll leave you to your slang term and your need to ignore everything that happened across the whole 80 minutes. I have seen teams previously missing the courage, drive, ability, belief and myriad of other characteristics together necessary and give up with that start. Hard to say it about this team as they played up to the last seconds seeking the winning score.

It’s insulting and it’s something nobody can know for sure except the lads themselves. They played against one of the top teams in the world and were the width of a hand from winning. Then the narrative goes from “they choked” to “they really dug that out, what mental strength.” It’s lazy analysis.

Very, very few athletes produce their absolute best under extreme pressure. And that’s for a variety of reasons. Let’s not forget, you have some of the best rugby players in the world on the other side of the pitch trying to stop you from winning. You have lads who may not be at their peak physically and may be carrying knocks. You just get caught cold at the start.

All those things can happen especially when you’re playing against an elite team and, while this isn’t the best NZ team, they are elite.

What I would say is that if this was a proper choke or mental weakness, we’d have gone under after 10 mins. 13-0 down, really slow start. If you were a choker, that’s the time to cave completely. Our lads stuck in the game to the very end and that’s why I don’t think the analysis from some posters is fair. There are too many things at play to simply say they choked or bottled it.

To ascribe every big defeat, particularly one as narrow as this against such a big team, to choking is lazy, condescending, insulting analysis from keyboard warriors. Sadly, it’s become prevalent in every sport.

Nobody will be talking about a 17 game win streak this time next year.

They would have talked about us getting to a world cup final, or even better again winning the tournament.

If you're happy with a 17 game win streak and a grand slam, and also a failure at the world cup, it shows the peak of your ambition.

I agree, saying they really dug that out if they won woukd be lazy analysis. I don't thinking saying they bottled it is, it just one word that is a accurate description to how it went. But since offends so many, we will just say it as it is - they drastically under performed in the most important game you can play in world rugby.

NZ produced their absolute best when under extreme pressure, and in the grand scheme of NZ teams it's still a level below. NZ palying against another elite team didn't cause them to drastically under perform. It was the opposite, they rose to the challenge and played some of their best rugby in a long long time. And they did it at the most important time in their careers. That's the difference between between having that elite mental strength and belief and not having it. These Irish players don't have it.

No one is saying every big narrow defeat should be ascribed yo bottling. But playing well below your normal standards and losing in the most important game, well, I think that's a pretty accurate description of bottling it. At the end of the day, I don't know how everyone woukd sum up a description of 'bottling it' but to me, that's a fairly accurate description. Now people could argue that ireland didn't under perform, but I'd disagree with that.

Without Ardie Savea, New Zealand lose that game last night. What a performance. A tad lucky not to see the bin but Barnes was never giving another yellow after the soft knock on one.

He was a colossus.

Honourable mention to Cane too, a defensive performance for the ages.