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16th October 2023
11:07am BST

"Johnny will be disappointed but Johnny Sexton is one of the greats, and he will always be remembered as that. "New Zealand get to live another week, Ian Foster gets to live another week. It is wonderful, and they should enjoy tonight, then start work tomorrow. "With Johnny, I've been in this situation before - been knocked out. And it's a lost opportunity for the Irish. They'll be thinking, 'We had a team to win this World Cup, and we've lost that opportunity.""If I was to meet Johnny for a pint," Fitzpatrick added, "I'd tell him I lost a World Cup Final in 1995 and I'm only just getting over it now." Standing alongside Fitzpatrick, former Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll said his old Leinster and Ireland teammate 'will have to live with this for a long while'. He did point out that Sexton's missed penalty, in the second half, hurt Ireland and would have put them just a point behind the Kiwis, heading into the final quarter.
"I think the really frustrating thing, and we talked about Johnny Sexton, looking back, we have to say it - there's a missed penalty on 58 minutes. That gets it to within drop goal range [if he kicks it]. And that's what makes it all the more painful, if you are looking back and you're pulling it apart and spilling hairs. "The reality is they have to find that they had to score a try and against the resolute defence like that, with very tired bodies at the end of the game. That was always going to be a big ask. It would have been much easier to try and get a penalty out of it or at least have a shot at goal, to take the spoils."The former Leinster and Ireland captain's point is valid, and Sexton will be livid with himself over that missed it, but it is important to note Jordie Barrett missed a relatively simple one, soon after, before making amends when Conor Murray was penalised. O'Driscoll argued that Ireland 'threw everything' at the All Blacks but 'came up against a team of possessed men' in Paris. "There's nothing to criticise," he added, "there really is not."
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