Preview: Ireland broke the All Blacks' spell... can they overcome old rivals once again?

The sides face off at a sold-out Aviva Stadium on Friday night. 

Cian Healy, Gary Ringrose, and Bundee Aki. Pic: INPHO/Andrew Conan

It was eight years ago that Ireland solved the 111-year mystery of how to defeat the All Blacks, and there have been more wins than losses against them since.

It was a little over two years ago that the Irish made more history with a series win in New Zealand but none of that will not stop Caelan Doris and his side from searching for that winning feeling once more at a sold-out Aviva Stadium on Friday night.

Of the Irishmen set to take the field, Josh van der Flier and replacement Cian Healy have savoured victory in this now fierce rivalry on all five occasions while six more of the matchday 23 have done it four times. Winning against rugby’s once perennial top dogs is no longer a novelty but the feat remains one of the great achievements in Test rugby and Doris, a three-time victor, once in 2021 and twice on tour in 2022, cannot wait to have another crack at the experience.

"For me and for the team in general, some of our best memories are coming from playing against these guys whether it be over in New Zealand in 2022, the game here was probably one of my favourite games I've played ever,” the captain said on Thursday.

“The feeling after, doing the lap with the crowd still there cheering, the atmosphere in general. The nature of the game, the extra level, you can feel the physicality going up a notch in these games. There's so much to look forward to."

There have been less auspicious evenings than an appointment with the All Blacks for Ireland to begin a new chapter in their history but like most episodes during Andy Farrell’s five-year tenure as head coach this side will embrace the opportunity to enter new territory under a new captain, and with a new attack coach in Kiwi Andrew Goodman.

Goodman, the former Leinster midfielder who cut his coaching teeth with current All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson at the Crusaders before rejoining the Irish province on Leo Cullen’s ticket, has been preparing for his first Test since replacing Mike Catt following a handover period on tour in South Africa in July.

It will be intriguing to see what he brings to the table in terms of taking Ireland’s gameplan to a new level and while Farrell was giving nothing away about any tweaks to the multi-phase attack which has served his team so well, he spoke of his impressions about the way Goodman has set about his work.

“He’s been excellent,” Farrell said on Wednesday.

“Goody is an unbelievably hard-working man, very passionate. It will be a big game obviously because he’s coached a lot of these boys that he’s coming up against, being a Kiwi man himself and coaching with Razor (Robertson) at the Crusaders. It’s a big day for him and his family as well but he’s been excellent.

“I think taking him on the South African tour shadowing Mike gave a good insight of how things are done and he’s been bright enough and intelligent enough to slot straight in to the way that we do things. I’ve been very impressed.” 

Farrell’s ability to make five changes from a side that beat the world champion South Africans in Durban last time out and still have a strong team is a measure of Ireland’s strength in depth. His recalling a quartet of frontline backs to his team – scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park, inside centre Bundee Aki, right wing Mack Hansen and full-back Hugo Keenan – following summer absences, makes them stronger again while even the loss of tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong to a hamstring strain is offset by the promotion of a 42-cap replacement in Finlay Bealham, who himself has four wins over New Zealand on his CV.

Do not take all these Irish strengths, however, as an expression of overwhelming favouritism for the home side. The 28-24 World Cup quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks just 13 months ago served as a painful reminder that whatever success this Ireland side has achieved against them in recent years, nothing can be taken for granted and last Saturday’s narrow victory over England at Twickenham showed just how devastating they can transform a middling, for them, and error-strewn performance with individual flashes of world-class brilliance, particularly in broken-field play.

Doris addressed that very point on Thursday, identifying that potency as a major threat.

“It’s tricky because they can massively create something from nothing in terms of transitions or if there’s scraps, they’ve guys like (Mark) Tele’a, (Wallace) Sititi, (Ardie) Savea – so many throughout their team who can just turn it on and create a bit of magic for them.

“Obviously our connections in defence, being ahead of the game, trying to win scraps, all those little bits are important in trying to negate that threat, but it’s definitely a big one.” 

IRELAND: H Keenan; M Hansen, G Ringrose, B Aki; J Lowe; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, R Kelleher, F Bealham; J McCarthy, J Ryan; T Beirne, J van der Flier, C Doris – captain.

Replacements: R Herring, C Healy, T O’Toole, I Henderson, P O’Mahony, C Murray, C Frawley, J Osborne.

NEW ZEALAND: W Jordan; M Tele’a, R Ioane, J Barrett, C Clarke; D McKenzie, C Ratima; T Williams, A Aumua, T Lomax; S Barrett – Captain, T Vaa’I; W Sititi, S Cane, A Savea.

Replacements: G Bell, O Tu’ungafasi, P Tosi, P Tuipulotu, S Finau, C Roigard, A Lienert-Brown, S Perofeta.

Referee: Nic Berry (Australia) end