Are players and coaches lying, or at any rate telling fibs, when denying that revenge is ever a factor? The All Blacks did so in the week before the World Cup quarter-final, albeit their sense of vengeance sure seemed to pour out immediately afterwards, and Andy Farrell also maintained the theme on Wednesday afternoon ahead of Friday’s reprise at the Aviva Stadium, when a one-off win couldn’t possibly suffice for Ireland’s Parisian heartache anyway.
“No, it’s not. That’s the truth,” said Farrell when asked if revenge was a factor. “Do you need that when you’re playing against one of the best teams in the world? I mean everyone knows that’s the truth. We want to constantly be up there competing with the best so if that’s not motivation within itself ... I mean playing against the All Blacks has always brought that edge to any type of game. This is a top-level Test match that everybody wants to be involved in.
“So, revenge [for] a year ago ... there’s been a lot of rugby played. A lot of water that’s gone under the bridge as well. It doesn’t even play a bit in it for us anyway.”
He sounded as convincing as he ever does, but coincidentally the Irish head coach sure has given plenty of his players the opportunity to exact some small measure of revenge.
Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen, Bundee Aki and Jamison Gibson-Park are restored after missing the epic Second Test win over the Springboks in Durban, as well as Iain Henderson to the bench, while the injured Tadhg Furlong has been replaced by Finlay Bealham.
This means that 10 of the starting XV from that night in Paris one year and four weeks ago line up at kick-off again, the exceptions being Henderson and Peter O’Mahony, who are now on the bench, the retired Johnny Sexton and the injured duo of Furlong and Dan Sheehan.
What’s more, 17 of the matchday squad from that night in the Stade de France are on duty again, while all of this week’s starting line-up were among Ireland’s World Cup squad. The only exceptions are a trio of replacements, namely Cian Healy (injured in the final warm-up game), Ciarán Frawley and Jamie Osborne.
There could be a whiff of cordite in the air on Friday night all right, albeit it’s a measure of the deficit in experience Scott Robertson inherited that the All Blacks retain only seven of their Parisian starting XV and 10 of the 23, with the injured duo of Beauden Barrett and Codie Taylor now ruled out in addition to the absent Richie Mo’unga, Aaron Smith, Ethan de Groot, Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock.
However, Farrell did agree that the fallout from that quarter-final, and particularly the spat between Sexton and Reiko Ioane, should only stoke the flames on Friday night.
“Hopefully. That’s what everyone wants, isn’t it?” he said, smiling. “That’s what everyone wants. They want it as well. That’s what normally happens when the All Blacks come into town anyway. I haven’t seen it any different to that. I think Irish rugby’s in a good place. I think everyone knows New Zealand are always the team to beat, so I expect it to be as good as ever, if not better.”
Alas, Sexton will not be there, more’s the pity, not least as no Irish player has done more to transform the narrative of this fixture since the win in Chicago a few days before another grim USA election night eight years ago, from no wins in 28 to five in the last nine, all of which Sexton started.
“A healthy one, a good one,” said Farrell of the rivalry. “It’s exactly how we would want it anyway. I suppose New Zealand over the years have had it in a sense where they probably thought they should win against Ireland, but hopefully the way that we’ve performed or improved since Soldier Field, the respect is a little bit higher from their side for us now.”
Farrell also contended that the way New Zealand defended in Paris in the World Cup quarter-final will not be especially relevant, especially given how much the All Blacks have changed.
“It’s different, a different coaching staff, a few different players, a long time ago, a new start for them, us learning. Don’t get me wrong, we were gutted to lose that game, but that’s so much in the distant past for us now because to cut a long story short, we nearly won that game by the way, you know? We take a bit of pride from that.
“I look at New Zealand’s performances of late as well, and they nearly beat South Africa a couple of times. There’s nothing in it and that’s how that’s how it should be at this level.”
Farrell has veered towards experience on the bench but his selections are invariably vindicated, while he’s resisted the usual desire for fresh faces.
“It is what it is. You can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat and throw people in if they’re not ready. It’s a big Test match. You act accordingly to what’s in front of you and what you’ve got.
“We are not South Africa or England or New Zealand in terms of there being thousands of players out there that you can just throw in and see how it goes. That’s not the way it is here.
“Look after the here and now, the medium term is always around the corner and there’s always planning in and around all that and the long term can look after itself.”
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Mack Hansen (Connacht), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), James Lowe (Leinster); Jack Crowley (Munster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Rónan Kelleher (Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht); Joe McCarthy (Leinster), James Ryan (Leinster); Tadhg Beirne (Munster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster, capt).
Replacements: Rob Herring (Ulster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Conor Murray (Munster), Ciarán Frawley (Leinster), Jamie Osborne (Leinster).
NEW ZEALAND: Will Jordan; Mark Tele’a, Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, Caleb Clarke; Damian McKenzie, Cortez Ratima; Tamaiti Williams, Asafo Aumua, Tyrel Lomax; Scott Barrett (capt), Tupou Vaa’i; Wallace Sititi, Sam Cane, Ardie Savea.
Replacements: George Bell, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Pasilio Tosi, Patrick Tuipulotu, Samipeni Finau, Cam Roigard, Anton Lienert-Brown, Stephen Perofeta.
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