New Zealand v Ireland: NEW ZEALAND rugby is at a low, nervous ebb. A mass exodus of frontline players in the wake of their World Cup failure and the departure of Robbie Deans to Australia on foot of Warren Gatland leading Wales to a Grand Slam, coupled with mixed feelings about the continuation of the Grahan Henry regime, has led to unusual apprehension and hurried preparations ahead of for their first Test since the World Cup.
Yet they went into today's Test in the Westpac Stadium with a 23-match winning run on home soil and a 103-year, 20-match unbeaten run against Ireland. A feature of interviews from the All Blacks' camp has been the apparent lack of knowledge amongst their players of their counterparts, save for standard stuff about Ronan O'Gara's kicking game and Brian O'Driscoll being the best centre in the world.
No doubt they'll have been sufficiently well briefed come the kick-off. Besides, the seven Munster forwards, O'Gara, O'Driscoll and Shane Horgan all played in the two Tests in Hamilton and Auckland two years ago, and all wore the same numbers, save for Denis Leamy shifting from number eight then to the blindside now. The only change in the pack sees Jamie Heaslip start at number eight, thereby repeating his head-to-head from the Under-21 World Cup final against Jerome Kaino four years ago.
NEW ZEALAND: M Muliaina (Waikato Chiefs); A Tuitavake (Auckland Blues), C Smith (Wellington Hurricanes), M Nonu (Wellington Hurricanes), S Sivivatu (Waikato Chiefs); D Carter (Caterbury Crusaders), A Ellis (Canterbury Crusaders); N Tialata (Wellington Hurricanes), A Hore (Wellington Hurricanes), J Afoa (Auckland Blues), B Thorn (Canterbury Crusaders), A Williams (Canterbury Crusaders), R So'oialo (Wellington Hurricanes), R McCaw (Canterbury Crusaders, capt), J Kaino (Auckland Blues). Replacements: K Mealamu (Auckland Blues), J Schwalger (Wellington Hurricanes), A Boric (Auckland Blues), A Thomson (Otago Highlanders), J Cowan (Otago Highlanders), S Donald (Waikato Chiefs), L MacDonald (Canterbury Crusaders).
IRELAND: R Kearney (Leinster); S Horgan (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), P Wallace (Ulster), T Bowe (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps); M Horan (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: R Best (Ulster), T Buckley (Munster), M O'Driscoll (Munster), S Jennings (Leinster), P Stringer (Munster), G Murphy (Leicester), G Dempsey (Leinster).
Referee: Chris White (England).
