'Sport can be cruel' - Farrell laments fine margins

Andy Farrell and Johnny Sexton spoke for 14 minutes in their press conference following the agonising 28-24 World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand at Stade de France, and the Irish coach's first six words summed up how little there was between the sides.

The defeat marks the eighth time Ireland have fallen at the quarter-final hurdle, and not even a 17-game winning run could give them enough momentum to get over that obstacle. "My initial feeling is that I'm unbelievably proud of the group, how they handled themselves, not just today but all through the tournament, over the last couple of years. That will be my overriding feeling.While Ireland only conceded nine penalties, it was the time and location of them that proved costly.

Those thoughts were shared by the retiring captain Johnny Sexton, who played his 117th and final game for Ireland in Paris. And the out-half was left to lament how his side gave up three soft tries to New Zealand, in particular Will Jordan's second half effort which made it 25-17."The last six weeks have been incredible, the support, the way we've played, the combination of both has been a dream come true really, for all of us, and I include today as well.

While Farrell spoke of fine margins, Ireland's scrum and lineout issues played a huge role in the defeat. While they only lost one lineout, a lot of the ball they did retain wasn't clean, while they conceded three scrum penalties.

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