Well, this was supposed to be the best Irish side ever but in the end, they crashed out of the Rugby World Cup quarter-final all the same.
New Zealand were utterly ruthless against an off-colour Irish side, winning 46-14 with a performance that will worry Eddie Jones' England.
Granted, they have been mostly poor since the start of 2019, but the potential to return to 2018s form gave fans hope that they could beat the world's best side.
Ireland started off the game on the back foot and Richie Mo'unga opened the scoring with a penalty after six minutes.
The All Blacks kept the pressure on from there and scored a try through Aaron Smith after dominating the opening 12 minutes of the game.
Joe Schmidt's side were looking in trouble already and Smith scored his second try of the day not long after to but New Zealand ahead by 17 points.
Ireland did start to grow into the game a little bit from there but after Sexton spilled the ball on the halfway line Beuaden Barrett hacked ahead and scored New Zealand's third try of the day.
The men in green were deep in the All Blacks' territory but a very harsh penalty given against Peter O'Mahony left it New Zealand 22-0 Ireland at half-time.
New Zealand picked up where they left off in the second half and after battering away at the Irish line for a period of time, Codie Taylor dived over for their fourth try.
The pace of the game slowed down but New Zealand maintained total control and a try from replacement Matt Todd after 60 minutes brought his team's tally to 34 points.
Thankfully, Ireland finally got on the board through a try from Robbie Henshaw off the back of a scrum, after he butchered a sure try only a minute earlier.
It didn't take long for normal service to resume however after some lovely offloads put George Bridge in for the All Blacks' sixth try.
Ireland responded with a penalty try in the 76th minute but little comfort could be taken from an ultimately massively disappointing day, with Jordie Barrett ultimately having the last say anyway.
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