Not so long ago, when a match against the New Zealand rugby team loomed, a mixture of impatience and fear invaded the opponent. The impatience to compete against the biggest stars on the oval planet. The fear of defeat, often bitter. But it’s 2023 and it’s now the All Blacks who are moving forward as outsiders. The XV du Trèfle, which they face on Saturday at 9 p.m. at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis (Seine-saint-Denis) for a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup, has become the benchmark against which to measure themselves.
“Ireland are the best team in the world. I wish I didn’t have to tell you, but it’s the truth,” conceded, two days before the match, Blacks playmaker Richie Mo’unga. A few minutes before, he was singing the praises of his counterpart on the field, Irish captain Jonathan Sexton. “When I started my international career, playing New Zealand was really intimidating. It still is, but at the time we didn’t think about beating them. Whereas now, we believe in it a little more,” euphemized, for his part, the replacement scrum half of the Clover XV, Conor Murray.
Forgotten the time before 2016, when the Irish won the first victory in their history against the All Blacks. Currently on a seventeen-game winning streak, mastering seemingly flawless rugby, the world-ranked nation has won five of the last eight matches against New Zealand. In particular, in July 2022, she won the summer tour on the island of the long white cloud: a first, which caused a certain trauma among the locals.
“There are some scars from our defeat against them, we can’t forget that,” admitted hooker Dane Coles before Saturday’s match. “They are hurt and want to make things right. This is the biggest challenge in rugby: to beat them when they are in this state of mind,” anticipates, for his part, Jonathan Sexton. “People say New Zealand have slipped in performance over the last couple of years, but what we’ve seen in this World Cup is that they’re starting to come back strong,” said his teammate, the winger Keith Earls.
“We don’t really look back.”
It is undeniable that Ireland, by dominating South Africa (13-8), then Scotland (36-14), to finish at the top of the toughest group in the competition, left its mark. But the All Blacks are also gaining momentum, as demonstrated by the almost 100 points scored against Italy (96-17).
Especially since the New Zealand team for the 2023 World Cup is not exactly the same as the one that was defeated on home soil. “A lot of water has flowed under the bridge,” wants to believe his coach, Ian Foster. “A year and something is a long time in rugby. The team will be very different,” confirms the second row of the XV du Trèfle, Tadhg Beirne. Many Blacks players, absent in July 2022 or repositioned since, could make the difference.
This week, the Irish were also bombarded with questions about the quarter-final barrier, which they have crashed into seven times in the World Cup. The last failure, in 2019, is undoubtedly the most painful. The Irish, already favorites after victories against the Blacks and a grand slam in the Six Nations Tournament in 2018, had been corrected by… the New Zealanders. “It’s a different group (…), some of us weren’t there. We have gained a lot of experience over the last two or three years. We believe a lot in ourselves and don’t really look back,” said the third line center of the XV du Trèfle Caelan Doris, in the bowels of the Stade de France, on the eve of the match.
The Irish will once again set foot on the lawn of an enclosure in which they play almost at home. During their first two meetings, tens of thousands of their supporters lit up the stands. “A lot of us have played big games in big stadiums before, but this is definitely another level,” remarked Conor Murray. The New Zealanders were of course asked if part of their plan for Saturday’s quarter was to keep those fans in their seats. Ian Foster’s hilarious response came: “Do you seriously think we can silence a bunch of Irish people? »