THE ALL BLACKS coming to Dublin – it’s a fixture that for so long sent shivers down the spine for many in Irish rugby. This is normally where we run through a selection of those dark days, but frankly, we don’t have the time or the heart. We all remember the games in question.

For so long, you sensed an inferiority complex when it came to playing New Zealand. Looking at them, you felt the All Blacks didn’t really view Ireland as being on their level.

That didn’t change until 2016 and that famous day in Chicago. At Soldier Field, Ireland made history. New Zealand saw it differently, losing a high-tempo, often frantic encounter at a strange, neutral venue in between fulfilling their many commercial duties.

Two weeks later they came to Dublin and made a point with one of the most brutal and bruising Test matches the Aviva Stadium has seen. 

Then 2018 happened. This time, there were no arguments. New Zealand came to Dublin locked and loaded, and lost to the better team. 

The 2019 World Cup quarter-final was a major setback, for sure, but at least this was a group of Ireland players who knew how to beat New Zealand. They were the first Irish team who could ever say that.

How quickly things change. Tomorrow’s game in Dublin will be the first time the two sides have met since Tokyo, and seven of the players who start for Ireland have never played New Zealand at Test level – namely, Hugo Keenan, Andrew Conway, James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Ronan Kelleher, Caelan Doris and Jack Conan.

Earlier this week Johnny Sexton spoke of the ‘shock factor’ he felt the first time he faced the All Blacks. Much of this week will have been spent making sure everyone involved from an Irish point of view knows how to deal with that.

In the eyes of head coach Andy Farrell, it’s all about balance. Respect the opposition, for sure, but don’t put them on a pedestal.

“It is a privilege to be involved in a week like this but at the same time we drive our own standards, we drive our own cohesive standards together so that it’s going to let us put our own best foot forward and take our own game to them,” Farrell says.

That’s the same in any game. We shouldn’t overplay how outstandingly good they are because we want to aspire to be like them, you know? We want to catch them up. We want to go out there and be calm and controlled and as clinical as they are, and that’s what we aspire to do, and we’ll go about our business.”

Calm, controlled, clinical. Playing New Zealand is as much about the mental battle as it is the physical. The All Blacks have long been masters of capitalising on mistakes. A pass fails to go to hand and they’re in under your posts. A player fails to hold his position and they’ve split your defence.

That quality came to mind watching the early stages of Ireland’s thumping of Japan last Saturday. For all the intent, all the offloads and all the tries, Ireland also had a bit of a wobbly start, throwing a couple of loose passes, which didn’t really matter because they had the time to scramble back and recover. 

Make the same mistakes this week, and it doesn’t take too much to find yourself chasing the game.

“We always talk about being next moment focused and that’s what you have to be at this level,” Farrell continued.

Farrell chats to his outhalf and captain, Johnny Sexton. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

“There’s a lot of preparation that goes into the mental side of the game and making sure that we don’t get too emotional.

“I thought that our blend of how we played the game (against Japan) last week was pretty impressive. We certainly made mistakes but we didn’t get affected by that, and there’s certainly going to be errors at the weekend and we know for a fact that New Zealand are going to have a purple patch. It’s how we settle down and get back on track from that is going to be key, and have enough purples patches ourselves.”

Overall the message out of the Ireland camp this week has been overwhelmingly positive. This is a team who believe that they are on the right path. Previous Ireland teams have feared the black jersey. This group are excited to get out there and test themselves against the best.

“Why would you not (be excited)?” Farrell continued.

We get to play them four times (this season) and this is the first one and like I said before, this is the place to be: Saturday afternoon at the Aviva. If you’re an Irish rugby player, this is the place to be. It’s an opportunity. Go and give it your best shot.”

Farrell has been part of winning set-ups against New Zealand before, plotting defensive plans that successively kept the All Blacks under wraps during his work with both Ireland and the Lions as defence coach – in 2018, Ireland outscored the visitors one try to nil.

Yesterday, he was asked to pin-point the key areas where New Zealand teams tend to ask the hardest questions.

“There isn’t one or two, there’s probably three or four or five that they’re going to test you with. Like every game, these games they don’t change, they’re won up front.

“The set-piece battle is absolutely huge and their set-piece is pretty good, and we back our set-piece against anyone as well so that will tell its own story along the way.

“We all know that they play a quick, expansive game and that sometimes gets in the way of what they’re really about. Their game understanding is very good, they don’t overplay a lot. I think they’ve learned some lessons along the way, they’re very mature in how they play the game and they want to play off your mistakes. They’re very quick and accurate at delivering that type of game.   

“Having said all that, it’s about us this week. It’s about us making sure that we take our game towards them. We pay them all the respect in the world because they 100% deserve it but it’s about us.

“Where are we at? Are we brave enough to take our game towards them? We’ll see.”

Bernard Jackman, Niamh Briggs, and Ciarán Kennedy join Murray Kinsella to discuss Ireland v All Blacks and the latest big story in Irish women’s rugby:

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