Passionate Irish smarter under Schmidt: Hansen

“The most important thing right now is that everyone is safe back in New Zealand, that is our first thought”, assistant coach Ian Foster said.

Hansen has picked Dagg on the wing in the hope New Zealand can this time shut down one of Ireland’s primary sources of attacking platforms.

Coach Steve Hansen believes that some All Blacks might have been distracted ahead of the loss to Ireland in Chicago.

Thanks to a partnership with UNICEF Ireland, the players took part in a pre-match skills & drills session for rugby minis in Dublin, aimed at highlighting children’s right to play.

Despite the surprise victory two weeks ago, Ireland were highly critical of their defensive effort on U.S. soil, conceding four tries and nearly falling victim to an All Blacks comeback.

New Zealand has reinforced its pack with world-class locks Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock following injuries, seemingly reducing areas for Ireland to exploit, and giving the All Blacks more options to apply pressure. Their lineout was poor.

The players involved in the 40-29 victory at Soldier Field can dine out on their achievement forever, but they have the potential to accomplish even more and challenge for the ultimate prize in 2019 if they can find a way of reaching those levels of performance consistently. Jerome Kaino is inured for the Ireland re-match, but the flanker lined up at lock in Chicago, and the back-line was nearly unrecognisable.

“The fact is that we’ve beaten them once, we’ve gotten the monkey off our back for the history books and for every other Irish team that plays them”, explained Kearney, who had lost to New Zealand on eight previous occasions.

“They are the number one team in the world for a reason”.

Without Whitelock and Retallick, Ireland bossed the mauls and disrupted lineouts, where Coles came under pressure on throw-ins.

Since taking the baton from Declan Kidney, Joe Schmidt has twice revelled in going toe-to-toe with his native country, the Chicago win arriving three years after the Dublin epic that ended in last-gasp Irish despair, and producing a third ultra-competitive performance against the world’s best would be immensely satisfying. “They are smarter”, said Hansen. New Zealand by eight.

The first anniversary of legendary winger Jonah Lomu’s death had also been discussed among the group, with Read labelling the Kiwi wrecking ball one of his favourite players. Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said, reacting to Hansen’s earlier remark.

“The place to enjoy that game last weekend was in the pubs of Ireland, really, but from our point of view we had a great time with our families and then we came back the next day and prepared for Canada”.

“I don’t think anything changes for us”. Not that we’re allowed to indulge in that. Their kicking game, one of their strengths in the USA, will need to be on point, and the pressure will be on Simon Zebo, who was excellent in Chicago, and Rob Kearney to compete with New Zealand for every kick that Jonny Sexton sends down the field.