By Ossian Shine
PARIS – As Ireland pack up camp and prepare to leave Paris they are left to contemplate not just another painful head-butt with their Rugby World Cup glass ceiling, but also the break-up of an era-defining squad.
The world’s top-ranked team’s 28-24 loss to New Zealand – their eighth World Cup quarter-final defeat from eight quarter-finals – brought Ireland’s Paris party to a premature end and deprived a fairytale finish for players who have moved the Irish up a level.
“Yes, it is the end of an era. There’s no other way of putting it,” Irish lock Peter O’Mahony pensively reflected in the bowels of the Stade de France.
“You have a group of senior players who are moving on,” he added, standing barefoot, still in full Irish kit. “There’s a group of guys who won’t play for Ireland again who have had an incredible impact on Irish rugby, not only in the last few years but the last decade.”
Chief among those players is Irish talisman Johnny Sexton. The 2018 World Rugby Player of the Year has a groaning trophy cabinet including four Six Nations titles and two Grand Slams with Ireland, a test series win with the British & Irish Lions, and four European Cups with Leinster.
No room will need to be made for a World Cup now. Winger Keith Earls also calls time on his career after 101 caps.
“It’s tough,” O’Mahony said. “Tough to lose these kind of guys in these kind of circumstances. I’ve spent a lot of time with himself (Earls) and Johnny obviously… probably every one of my caps had one of two of them in it, so it’s tough to lose fellas like that, obviously big characters.
“And most importantly big people, the best type of people, fellas who have your back all the time, you know, good friends of mine, so it is tough to say goodbye to them.”
As retirement stretched out before Sexton, the outgoing skipper sought positives in the hours after defeat.
“This is the best group I’ve ever been part of and these lads will go on to great things,” he told reporters, tears glistening in his eyes. “And I’ll be in the stands having a pint cheering them on.
“You can’t be 38 and sitting here giving out (complaining) … I will probably reflect more over the next couple of weeks.”
Sexton paid tribute to his fellow retiree Earls: “He’s a legend and one of my best mates, not just in rugby but in life. I spend a lot of time with his family away from rugby and he’s a top-class human being, a legend of a bloke.
“On the pitch, he’s a legend as well… he’ll go down as one of the very best for sure. This group will miss him definitely.”
But among the sentimental reflections, the Irish take solace in hope for the future.
“There’s a great group of young players there,” O’Mahony said. “Players who aren’t here who will step up to the plate as well. No doubt this team will have left Irish rugby in a better place. We’ve achieved a huge amount. I think we can be proud of where we have left the jersey. We’ve left it in a good place.”
(Additional reporting by Jasper Shine; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
