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

We lost on another QF. We were told by the experts that this was our time. Our world cup to win.

A lot of the support bought into it.

We absolutely failed and to accept it and not try to understand why we always fail on the only world stage that really matters is the reason why we have this conversation every four years.

Way way too simplistic this view..

I think a big part of the frustration / disappointment is that we went out at the quarter final stage - which is totally on the RWC organisers. It's insane that we had to play a top 4 side and three times WC winners as the top ranked team ourselves at only the last eight stage.

Defeat by the ABs at the semi stage would have been more tolerable at least. We're going to see a similar travesty this evening when either SA or France depart the competition.

I agree but in the wider scheme of things we’ve had 8 WC QFs and never progressed. That suggests it’s not down to luck, on or off the pitch.

It’ll be hard to produce a squad better than we had for this WC so there’s fine margins on that front for the next WC. Outside of that surely mentality is the key?

Fiji to stuff England just to dull the pain a last night

Most irish fans are closet case brits so you are in a minority i think.

Mod: Trolling.

Anyone else we can blame too?

Winning a QF would do the job nicely but until then it’s an obstacle that we must overcome somehow otherwise the vicious cycle will continue. And that’s assuming we have the players to do it!

I would think that most of us agree once we get past that hurdle we’ll feature in many SFs etc.

Argentina are facing into their 3rd SF ffs.

If you cant see how doing a draw 4 years out from a RWC can lead to crappy lopsided draw's like what we've got in this tournament then idk what else I can say to you.

Yeah but I don’t think losing to New Zealand by a score in a ridiculously competitive knockout match can be considered bottling it. And there were actually few handling errors, from either side compared to the earlier game. NZ bossed the breakdown in the first 20 mins, and that was what won the game ultimately.

We bottled it against Wales in 2011, and against the Pumas in 2015 (though the injuries didn’t help). We were just shite in 2019, but we were in the game till the death yesterday. These matches are decided by insanely small margins. The draw always meant we could play really well and still lose a 1/4 final given the potential opposition.

That held up try. Those cross field kicks. It’s already a psychologically damaging loss to the players - and the fans - so to label them bottlers is IMO untrue and counter productive. Even when we won the GS this year, it was always leading to yesterday. Are the Pumas a better team than us? Are England?

I know, “coulda shoulda woulda”. We still lost. Again. It’s poxy. Let’s all blame Dorris for that knock on, or Porter for getting the wrong side of Barnes.

I know!!!

This nails it. This wasn’t a QF against Wales/Scotland/England (albeit no QF a gimme/eazy), it was a QF against 3 times winners and historically the best team in history. So what if we beat them recently.. it’s a QF game in a WC against the ABs

I'm not sure if it has been pointed out but our only try scorers on the night were from New Zealand (plus penalty try). Lowe also had a good game I think. They haven't lived in Ireland all their lives and watched Ireland repeatedly collapse at the quarter final stage. Maybe they didn't have the mental frailties the rest of the team has?

That's a unique angle. This certainly isn't a vintage AB side but I thought they played at a very high level of intensity and accuracy on the night.

I don't think it will be massively surprising if they go all the way, though France is still the favourite (and if SA topple them it's a fairly even bet).