Ireland v All Blacks is no longer servant and master

Hugo Keenan spoke afterwards about the need to avoid going into their shells and framing this game as something different, something apart

Ireland's Hugo Keenan comes up against David Havili of New Zealand. Picture: INPHO/Gary Carr

TJ Perenara wasn’t all that interested in the recent history between Ireland and the All Blacks when asked to pause and reflect last week.

The New Zealand scrum-half all but dismissed the psychological relevance of Ireland’s win in 2016 and 2018. That might have held true for Ian Foster’s team approaching the weekend, but there was no doubting the scales had been tipped in Irish minds.