Everything Ireland have done under Andy Farrell has been building towards this challenge.
Murray Kinsella Reports from Paris IT’S NO GREAT shock to see it this morning but it’s still a little strange to be confronted with it: Ireland are the favourites for a World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand. Narrowly, on a two-point margin in most quarters, but favourites all the same.
Overcoming this burden of history always seemed like one of the big challenges for Andy Farrell’s Ireland but they haven’t seemed to be weighed down by it much so far. Indeed, when you speak to the younger players who have become core members of this team – Caelan Doris, Hugo Keenan, Garry Ringrose – they don’t seem all that perturbed.
Advertisement One of the biggest things this squad has achieved under Farrell was last year’s series success against the All Blacks down in New Zealand. It was Ireland’s first-ever series win on Kiwi soil and it came after they had been beaten in the first Test. It helps this week that Ireland have become used to beating New Zealand. Including that famous day in Chicago in 2016 when Joe Schmidt’s side made history, Ireland have enjoyed five wins in their last eight games against the All Blacks. While there are quite a few survivors of that harrowing 2019 quarter-final defeat still in the Ireland team now, this is a different Ireland set-up. In 2019, things had already started to unravel.
Being the better team on paper is, however, no guarantee when it comes to knock-out rugby. The challenge is being able to deliver upon your ability with that pressure on.
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