Chicago trip kickstarts Ireland's World Cup countdown, says Jamison Gibson-Park

Andy Farrell's side will face the All Blacks at Soldier Field once again on Saturday week.

CHECKING IN: James Lowe, Andrew Porter and Jamison Gibson-Park at Dublin Airport 21/10/2025. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

For all the familiarity of the Ireland squad heading into this four-Test November window, the players who left Dublin bound for Chicago boarded their plane having started the World Cup 2027 countdown clock.

It may be a Soldier Field reunion with New Zealand on November 1, nine years on from Ireland’s historic first victory over the All Blacks there, but their meeting 10 days hence will mark the start of a fresh chapter for Andy Farrell’s side with Jamison Gibson-Park revealing that the two-years-to-go milestone had been part of the head coach’s messaging on the squad’s arrival in camp this week.

The next-job mentality has not been abandoned as Farrell focuses the minds on Ireland’s first international since last season’s Six Nations and his reintroduction as the main man following a 12-month temporary tenure as British & Irish Lions boss.

Ireland will play Japan, Australia and world champions South Africa on home soil in the Quilter Nations Series which follows their trip to the United States, with the Australia 2027 pool draw set for this December 3 in host city Sydney.

“I suppose we are two years out from the World Cup now, aren’t we?”, Gibson-Park said before the squad departed for Chicago on Tuesday.

“It’s something we mentioned, that two-year mark. A lot of teams have started to look towards the next World Cup so it certainly felt that way in the meeting a little bit.

“It was a bit of a refresher. We’ve already brought in some new stuff this morning that we are working on for the next couple of weeks. It’s exciting times, for sure."

"But in the same breath, you’ve got to get good at falling in love with the process. It’s very much a next-game mindset like we always say. But there is that little carrot down the road to look at. But there are many games to come before that.” 

In that regard, the scrum-half, one of 10 Leinster players of the 13 in this squad who toured under Farrell with the Lions to Australia over the summer, said he was feeling energised and ready to go. That despite concerns that his province’s sluggish showing last Saturday in their 31-14 Croke Park URC defeat to arch-rivals Munster did not bode well for Ireland next month, given Leinster sent 22 players into camp including late call-up Jimmy O’Brien.

“I feel great, physically and mentally,” Gibson-Park said. “I thought I was in pretty good shape going out there at the weekend but I suppose we were humbled a little bit by Munster and fair dues to them.

“But I feel pretty good, we had a great training week and I suppose the beauty now is we get to link up with the other provinces and get to work for the next couple of weeks.

“They’re obviously going to have some pretty good IP, they troubled us, so hopefully we can use a bit of it together to make us stronger for this autumn coming up.” That togetherness was initially cloaked in some slagging from the Munster minority in camp when the squad first assembled and the number nine said: “It's normally the other way around. They're giving us a bit of a stick, but it's fully deserved.

“They were great winners on the weekend. I think it's great for the state of the game in Ireland. They put out a pretty solid performance and they were by far the better team, so I think they deserved it for sure."

Ireland scrum coach John Fogarty described Munster’s bonus-point victory as “a kick in the arse” for Leinster’s players and Gibson-Park had to agree.

“Yeah, it's certainly something we mentioned after the game. It's a bit of a reality check for us really. A lot of us first time out (this season) and we felt as though we prepared well, but we obviously hadn't because they're by far the better team.

“It's been a slow start to the season for us. It's kind of a stop-go thing. We were late into camp, the Lions guys, and then the boys went away to South Africa (losing at the Stormers and Bulls). It's just kind of been a very stop-start. I'm not making excuses, but it's been a tough start to the season and then we're back in here.

“Hopefully we can hit our straps by the time we're back in together again at Christmas time."

In the meantime, Ireland supporters are hoping the Leinster contingent can find their stride in a green jersey.

“We're going to kind of have to,” Gibson-Park said. “Certainly as the Leinster guys, when we get back it'll be straight into Europe, so there's no real chances to build into anything. “You've got to get going. We're lucky we've got a couple of weeks training now and hopefully build into a solid performance next weekend.”