Ireland's international fortunes declined after 2009 with a poor string of results, which was the antithesis to the success of its provinces Leinster, Ulster, Connacht and Munster. In 2011 and Kidney led Ireland to the quarter finals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, at which Ireland recorded their first-ever clean sweep of their pool, including Ireland's first-ever win at a world cup against a major rugby nation (Australia). A series of poor game management decisions by senior players saw them defeated 22–10 by Wales. Ireland suffered their heaviest defeat in history in 2012 going down by 60–0 against New Zealand, and by 2013 had slipped to their worst IRB World Ranking of ninth when Ireland suffered a string of injuries to key players, the likes of which Ireland has not suffered previously nor suffered since. After finishing fifth in the 2013 Six Nations Championship, which included an historic loss to Italy, the IRFU, on 2 April 2013, decided to terminate Kidney's contract.