It used to be one of my proud boasts that I am one of a highly select and probably dwindling group of people who have seen New Zealand, the greatest rugby nation in the history of the game, beaten twice on Irish soil. Once in Thomond Park, way back in 1978, and once in Dublin in 2018.
Of course, my boast is a bit diluted nowadays. I wasn’t there when we beat them in Chicago and I missed a couple of other encounters in Dublin. Beating New Zealand is, I won’t say commonplace nowadays, but certainly less of a challenge than it used to be. But every rugby fan wants to beat New Zealand. It’s the pinnacle of the sport in our heads.
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