You have to love the Kiwi’s tunnel vision.
New Zealand play France at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday night in their eight straight World Cup semi-final.
There are a host of Kiwi journalists in town for the big game so a few decided to drop in on compatriot Joe Schmidt’s Irish team announcement.
After Schmidt had answered questions about Paul O’Connell’s recovery, Johnny Sexton’s fitness and scoffed at England job links, the New Zealanders pitched a couple of questions.
REPORTER: Who do you think will win between France and New Zealand?
SCHMIDT: Look, to be honest, when the final whistle went. Apart from a bit of discourse afterwards, that [possible New Zealand quarter final] was something we put out of our minds.
I’ll be watching the game, make no mistake. It will be interesting to see.
REPORTER: You said New Zealand were favourites [last weekend]
SCHMIDT: I think they probably are, based on what has happened in the tournament so far.
It is not somewhere they haven’t been before and being incredibly pressured by the French.
I remember sitting at home, watching the French comeback [in 1999] when Jonah Lomu had went through them a good few times to give New Zealand a very comfortable cushion only to see Christophe Lamaison and Christophe Dominici [score tries].
You just can’t discount France because of the sort of players they’ve got… They’ve got guys that can turn a game on its head very quickly.
I’m going to be an interested spectator, then I’m going to very quickly flick my attention back to a game we’ve got the next day.
