How the world reacted to Stade de France classic: 'The pace of the game was also other worldly at times'

Media reaction: South African press believe that Ireland and the Springboks could be meeting again on October 28th at the Stade de France....

Match coverage from Sunday's L'Equipe in Paris. The front page describes Ireland as 'The Green Force'

We'll meet again. After Saturday's intense World Cup loss in Paris, South African media were left to reflect on the Springboks' missed scoring opportunities - but suggest such issues may be rectified by the time these sides potentially face off again in the final on October 28th.

"They took the game of rugby not so much to another level but another dimension," Liam del Carme writes in the Cape Times. "The frenzied fervour with which this game was played left no-one in doubt that these were the game's two apex teams."

He continued: "It made for an on-the-edge atmosphere in which the dread of defeat clung to Paris air. It was there before the game and indeed when Johnny Sexton sent the ball skyward at kickoff.

"But it was no carnival, or dinner with the rugby gods. What unfolded at the Stade de France was the result of men in white coats who had taken the science of rugby not just to another level but near boiling point. The result of meticulous mixing and matching, the measuring of minutes, workloads, the fastidious attention to detail was there for all to see.

"If it hasn't arrived already, oval-ball AI may be among us soon."

Craig Ray in Capetown's Daily Maverick added: "This was simply a brutal Test worthy of the final and it could well be the final on October 28, although there is a lot of rugby to be played before then," he wrote.

"This was Ireland’s 16th straight Test match win and they have underlined their status as the team to beat, but no one will want to face the Boks either. It was a match of the highest quality for the most part. Hard, played on the ragged edge, but never spilling over into anything illegal. There is a great deal of respect between the sides and it showed in the contest."

Also from the Cape Argus, Mike Greenaway said: "The Springboks have lost a battle but the Rugby World Cup war is far from over following a night of epic drama in the seething cauldron of the sold-out Stade de France in Paris. The South Africans live to fight another day — this was a pool game and both sides are likely to advance to the quarter-finals (in next week’s final pool B fixtures, the Boks play Tonga and Ireland play Scotland).

"Crucially, the Boks have learned some harsh lessons about frailties in their goal-kicking department, their lack of quality depth at hooker after the loss of Malcolm Marx, and, chiefly, the Boks were far too charitable in their inability to cash in on their scoring opportunities."

The Boks' out half Mannie Libbock told South African media: It was one hell of a game. Ireland brought it to us. I’m just proud of the boys for sticking in there. We were so unlucky. In a tight game like this, you have to take your points. You have to convert. But we didn’t manage to get it right. We go back to the drawing board on Monday. Ireland are a class outfit and they have quality players all over the park."

The Guardian's Rob Kitson added: "There was also the knowledge that these sides could yet bump into each other again at the tournament’s business end. If so, strap yourselves in tight. Some big games struggle to live up to the hype but here was a match as relentlessly tight and tense as any final. The pace of the game was also other worldly at times, a sizeable step up on anything else seen in France this month. Tries are not always required to ensure a classic and no pool game at any previous World Cup has previously featured the top two teams in the world."

Observers in New Zealand will have watched with keen interest of course. Richard Knowler, of the Dominion Post's Stuff.co.nz says the All Blacks must prepare for a showdown with the 'fighting Irish' and asks how New Zealand can come out on top in the likely quarter-final pairing. 

"After watching the Irish beat the Springboks from their camp in Bordeaux, the All Blacks must have felt the hairs on the back of their necks bristle," he writes. "Had the Springboks kicked their goals, Manie Lubbok and Faf de Klerk left 11 points out on the park, the All Blacks would be preparing to confront a foe that thrashed them 35-7 in London in a pre-tournament game in London last month. Not great for the confidence, obviously, but they could have reminded each other they were good enough to beat the Boks 35-20 in Auckland on July 15.

"As for Ireland, well, there's more reasons to be nervous. They are one of the most organised defensive teams on the planet and their competitiveness and accuracy at the breakdown gave them a crucial edge over the Springboks."

"Foster and his assistants have two weeks to mastermind a plan that can blow them off their perch," he added. 

Across the Tasman Sea in Australia, Paul Cully in the Melbourne Age says the Boks and Ireland showed the world how it's done.

"There is a narrative – emerging largely from New Zealand, it has to be said – that the teams with natural brilliance are somehow being stifled by the current state of the game, which unduly rewards those who kick the ball 1000 times a game.

"It’s rubbish. Ireland and South Africa were ferocious, ambitious and highly skilled all at the same time. The losers of this World Cup will be losers because they aren’t good enough, not because the officiating or the laws aren’t conducive to the way they want to play."

Closer to home in the London Independent, Luke Baker said: "The world No 1 and No 2 sides showed why they are ranked as such and, certainly now that France’s poster boy Antoine Dupont’s fractured cheekbone has become a national point of interest, it’s hard to argue that these two aren’t a cut above everyone else at the tournament.

"If this contest was indeed a preview of the final and the teams are destined to meet again at the same Stade de France in 35 days’ time, then we’re in for a treat."