Wounded All Blacks ready for war

The All Blacks are in the Aviva this Saturday and do you know what? They are a due a win over Ireland. How long have we been waiting to read that sentence? It’s just one of the benefits from our remarkable victory in Chicago only the weekend before last. One of many.

Another will be the confidence we can approach Saturday with. Nothing breeds it like winning and our side can go at the New Zealanders now without the pressure of trying to achieve that first ever win, although perhaps the pressure of a two-in-a-row might have an effect.

Joe Schmidt is probably the shrewdest coach in the world, he’ll know that as soon as the final whistle went in Soldier Field, everything changed for the second rubber. The All Blacks are now the team under pressure because, gracious as they were in the aftermath of their shock defeat, they must have an almighty kick in them.

Believe or not, after winning 18 games on the trot and then being caught cold in Chicago, they have been hearing it from home since the loss. So they have to answer on the field and that’s what’s facing us.

Cute man that Joe Schmidt is, he too was exceptionally kind after the last match, pointing out how vulnerable the world champions were because of injury. He wasn’t going to go and antagonise Steve Hansen or his squad in the wake of the defeat, with an eye to the rematch.

The Irish team will probably have a different look to it as well and while it would be exceptionally hard to drop any player for round two, that is the nature of professional rugby. We can’t be oblivious either to the fact that a week after Saturday, Australia come calling.

This must mean that Keith Earls, Sean O’Brien and Peter O’Mahony make a start this Saturday or next. The same should apply to Gary Ringrose, Josh Van der Flier, Kieran Marmion and Paddy Jackson, who have to see some game time. Cast-iron starters like Devon Toner, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray and Jamie Heaslip will need some rest so all of them might not start this weekend.

There is a not so little matter of world rankings for Schmidt to think of and in those terms, a win over the Wallabies could be huge for Ireland down the road, in late spring of next year actually, when the seedings for the next Rugby World Cup are decided.

It’s so easy to get ahead of ourselves, but why not? We have France and England at home in the Six Nations and the possibility of Ireland being in the top four in the world come late March would have serious positive repercussions for Japan 2019.

This is what one win over the All Blacks (so far this year) will do for forward planning.

I fully expect Ireland to put it up to New Zealand again on Saturday. But this will be a very different game. So much went right for the winners two weeks ago but there is no one better than the All Blacks to learn from their mistakes so they’ll be better.

That should manifest itself in their lineout which will welcome back two specialists to their second row, while they will definitely look to up the pace of their game which was certainly affected by the stop-start nature of the first half in Chicago. That 40-minute initial period took all of 57 minutes, not allowing them to build up their traditional head of steam. We saw what they did in their second-half purple patch – three tries in about 10 minutes is nothing new for them, they will look to play at a hundred miles an hour on Saturday evening.

Of course, we’ll be expecting this, but being prepared for a hurricane doesn’t always mean you survive it. So once again we are underdogs – our favourite tag.

We have the monkey off our backs and that will certainly be worth some points, not to mention a vociferous crowd behind us, but this is one of the greatest teams of all time we are talking about – their greatness demands a response to Chicago and we’ll have to watch it and endure it.

I suspect we will struggle towards the end and staying within 14 points might be a reasonable result for Ireland.

We’ll beat the Aussies, mind you. CL

Ballyea take on the Glen in Thurles

The Munster club hurling final will be live on your TG4 screens this Sunday from Semple Stadium and it offers a unique pairing in Ballyea of Clare against the once (and now again) mighty Glen Rovers of Cork. This match is made for this special competition.

The last time the Glen contested a Munster final was back in December of 1976, when a team led by Martin O’Doherty and powered by Denis Coughlan beat South Liberties 2-8 to 2-4 in the Gaelic Grounds. Little did the club of the famed Jack Lynch ever think that it would be so long again before they graced the provincial final stage. But what’s rare is wonderful and they’re back with county star Patrick Horgan providing the extra bit of class needed for such campaigns.

Back in 1976 their opponents Ballyea were toiling at Junior B level. What a difference 40 years makes! It was be far too simplistic to say what a difference Tony Kelly makes, but there is no getting away from his brilliance in leading his club to this juncture.

For this fan, Kelly is worth the admission price alone when he puts on the helmet. To quote Ballyea coach and former Clare ’95-’97 great Fergal Hegarty, he is the best hurler Clare have ever produced.

The supporting cast is decent too and Ballyea will actually have more inter-county experience on display than their illustrious opponents. That includes two recent All-Star nominees, the aforementioned Kelly and Gary Brennan, him of football fame.

It is Brennan’s fantastic last-second goal against Thurles Sarsfields that has his club in this final, the school teacher has the hands for either code. They just might be wrapped around the O’Neill Cup come Sunday evening.