Can Ireland do it again? That’s all everyone wants to know.
Is this an Ireland team that can string together big, big victories or is it a slightly better version of the ones that came before – capable of steepling highs and average ordinaries.
Joe Schmidt will have primed his side to go out on Saturday and prove to the world all over again that this Ireland side is made of different stuff. Johnny Sexton – his outhalf and one of his most trusted lieutenants – is sure of it too.
“Yeah,” Sexton tells us, “it is a little bit of a monkey off the back by getting that first victory against them.
“We’re very much a performance-driven team. Even though we got the win, the review was pretty harsh. We feel we can be better, which is a good thing. We know they will be a lot better so we’ll just go out and try and implement our game plan again, put in the best performance we can and we’ll see where that gets us against the All Blacks, who will definitely turn up again on the day.”
"The review was harsh. We know we can be better."
Exactly what we wanted to hear from @IrishRugby No.10 Johnny Sexton pic.twitter.com/PZfHDDRZzK
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 17, 2016
The next question Sexton fields is pretty much the same – can this Ireland side chalk up the huge ones? He replies:
“Last November we beat South Africa and Australia back-to-back and we’ve had other victories back-to-back, but there’s still an element that we’ve spoken about a little bit about needing to back it up.
“But really, again, it’s performance driven in that regard – turning up on the day, making sure emotionally, physically that we’re ready to go and in the right frame of mind as we were last time and then the result will come after that. But that’s all we can influence at the moment and that’s what we talked about.”
Sexton insists that Ireland have learned an awful lot from the 40-29 victory at Soldier Field. You cannot afford to rest or shell up against the All Blacks. Ireland know they can’t play the full 80+ minutes on the front foot but they are going to take the fight to the world champions.
As for what makes this team, and its new additions, a different animal from the Class of 2013 [and the late heartbreak they suffered in Dublin], the outhalf says:
“We just got back to the plan and there was some good plays by the lads that got us back down there and we took our chances. Obviously Robbie Henshaw had that great finish off the set play. That was really it.
“When we sat back was when we got ourselves into trouble and then the guys took the front foot again. We took the front foot, got back down into their territory and we were really clinical.”
Can they do it again? Schmidt and Sexton are making the right noises off the pitch.
On Saturday, they put these brave words into practice all over again.
Aaron Kernan joins Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour to explain the work he’s doing for the Club Players Association. Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue talks Slaughtneil and a Dublin club advertising for hurlers gets a sore touch. Subscribe here on iTunes.
