Ireland have a chance of beating in New Zealand in Chicago next week. Fact. Stuart Lancaster is not known for his over zealous predictions. But the former England head coach was feeling cheerily positive yesterday.
Despite Ireland’s lack of time in camp and New Zealand having recently broken a world record against Australia for their winning streak of Test matches (18 wins), Lancaster can see the glass half full. Oh yes, and the All Blacks have effectively been in camp for the last three months.
There is one aspect to Ireland's game that Lancaster knows better than most and has come to trust. That is Andy Farrell and the defensive system he has knitted into the Irish playbook.
Farrell soldiered with Lancaster with the most scrutinised team on earth until England’s fateful World Cup last year and, like Lancaster, paid the price.
“Lots of challenges but a fantastic place for Ireland to be in given the quality of players they have got,” says Lancaster.
“I don’t think there are that many injuries of the key personnel so with the evolution of the defensive system Andy Farrell will bring in . . . he has coached against the All Blacks any number of times and Joe’s intellectual property on New Zealand will be . . . I’m looking forward to it.
“Ireland have got a very good group of core senior players, who have played together lots. I don’t think it will take them too long (to knit). Joe has been in place a long time now so it’s not like they are coming in and learning a new system and structures.
“Andy Farrell’s influence will be huge on the back of what happened in South Africa. You can see the influences he had defensively. I could see the influence he had. I think Ireland should have won that series in SA and that was away from home without a lot of key players playing.
“There was a lot of injuries at that point. So I think you have to go into all of these games believing you can win and I think Ireland will present challenges to NZ that they haven’t been presented with before.”
England played the All Blacks in a similar scenario except that they [the All Blacks] played against the USA in Chicago before travelling to face England in Twickenham. The travelling and the bedding in at another venue in another country can have an unsettling effect.
A pitfall would also be to see the game against New Zealand as a final of sorts and then deflate once the match was over with Canada and Australia on the horizon the following week.
“It’s belief about beating the All Blacks,” says Lancaster. “It’s about belief. They have got to believe they can do it in Chicago but then on the back of another week’s prep, Canada back in the Aviva lessons learned. I think Ireland should be confident.
“Then obviously the key thing then is to not think you have played your cup final because you still have Australia the week after. That is equally a big game and you want to make sure you finish your Autumn Series on a positive.”
