Former Ireland international Andrew Trimble has said that Ireland had really rattled New Zealand when they beat them in Chicago in 2016.
Ireland recorded their first ever win over the All Blacks with a 40-29 win at Soldier Field before returning to the Aviva Stadium two weeks later where Steve Hansen’s side avenged the defeat with a 21-9 win in Dublin.
Trimble, who played the All Blacks seven times over his 11 year international career, said on a bonus episode of Baz and Andrew’s House of Rugby this week that New Zealand players would have typically known ‘Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and 13 other muppets’ during the earlier parts of his career but that the win in Chicago really put Ireland on the All Blacks radar.
“We came back [from Chicago] and there was something about how the All Blacks were getting on,” said Trimble.
“There was an intensity… they were raging… we were properly underneath their skin. It was that moment that I thought ‘Ireland are really on New Zealand’s radar’.
“This was something we had never experienced before. Like we’ve got them angry. I remember Israel Dagg going mental, like screaming in our faces, when they scored. [Malakai] Fekitoa nearly took [Simon] Zebo’s head off at one stage and I was like ‘oh these boys are up for it’.
“In a way, what a compliment, the All Blacks, we register on their radar. We’re competing with the All Blacks. [Then] we got beat. It was business as usual. But still we were on their radar.”
Former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga has said that the fear of public backlash from home can often drive New Zealand players after defeat and that the intensity raises dramatically in All Blacks camp following losses.
"Circle of trust?!"
Here's our BONUS episode of Baz & Andrew's House of Rugby.
Trimby sits down with BOD and Tana Umaga to settle the beef!
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“We’ve talked about respect a lot, and again, we always say that we respect our opposition, but when you defeat the All Blacks that does get under your skin,” said Umaga.
“You’ve got to realise that everything back home has got under your skin as well. Obviously when you lose as an All Black it’s not a great thing and the expectation is that you win all the time and they’re just at you.
“The public, the media and things get in behind you and it’s like it’s the end of the world. They realised that we’ve got to get our stuff together and they would have been like we can right some wrongs yet you don’t want to be feeling like that.
“There’s the history thing behind it as well so it does make you focus a lot more. It becomes really intense because it becomes really intense at training. Everything lifts another notch from day one.
“Demanding of each other. That’s a big thing from the All Black camp. Are you doing everything you can to make sure you’re ready for it because you can’t be left wanting. You can’t just go down and go to the movies it’s ‘are you focused? Are you focused?’
“That’s what losing does and even more so to an All Black that’s the extent of it because you realise what’s going to come if this happens again and you don’t want that.”
