Tommy Martin: Ireland beating All Blacks again was different but still special, like an accidental third child

Do we want New Zealand reduced to the status of a small, wet, sheep-ridden nation that we beat every second time we play them? Isn’t that Wales?

Ireland's Caelan Doris celebrates at the final whistle with Tadhg Beirne. Picture: INPHO/Bryan Keane

Wed, 17 Nov, 2021 - 20:25

Tommy Martin

Tommy Martin is a broadcaster and presenter who writes on a broad range of Irish and international sport’s topics.

You would hope that Ireland don’t make a habit of beating the All Blacks as often as they currently do. That’s three out of the last five times it’s happened now. Do we want New Zealand reduced to the status of a small, wet, sheep-ridden nation that we beat every second time we play them? Isn’t that Wales?

For now, the thrill of winning against the All Blacks remains intact, or at least it was last Saturday. It wasn’t quite the historic, whip-out-a-commemorative-DVD rapture of Chicago. That felt slightly unreal, mainly because it was in America, where rugby is mostly played by deeply ironic Harvard undergraduates called Henry. Then came 2018, the first win on home soil, cueing further fist-pumping ecstasy.