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'I'm troubled about what New Zealand need to do': John Kirwan on fixing All Blacks
Former All Black great John Kirwan is ‘unsettled’ after witnessing the manner in which Ireland defeated the All Blacks to claim a historic series win in Wellington over the weekend.
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Speaking on The Breakdown panel, Kirwan claimed that Ireland had become the world’s best team after coming back from 1-nil down to make history with a series win on New Zealand soil.
But it was the path ahead for the All Blacks that troubled him most, after watching a ‘clunky display’ of attack that failed to deliver in such an important game.
“I’ve been reflecting all day, the Irish were amazing. They are a very good side, number one in the world now,” Kirwan praised.
“But I’m troubled about what New Zealand need to do to turn this around.
“I’ve been thinking about it all day, what we need to do, technically, tactically, we are talking about getting rid of an All Black coach for the first time in the history of the game.
“There is a lot of things at play and it unsettles me quite a bit. I’ve been in those changing rooms, I’ve been in those coaching situations, it’s just horrible.”
Kirwan’s gut feeling toward Ireland before the third test was that they would win but he couldn’t come to terms with comments from the Irish camp that referred to New Zealand as the world’s best team.
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“Farrell has taken over from Joe [Schmidt] and really accelerated to become the world’s best around the ruck I believe, world’s best at attacking patterns, world best defensively probably as well.
“Last night I didn’t have the courage to say Ireland would win, but I felt it in my heart.
“This Irish team, every time they get a chance they say we [New Zealand] are world champs, best in the world, but I’m not seeing it.
“We look clunky. I liked what the All Blacks were trying to do on attack, because I thought they were predictable and we asked them to change. But we were just clunky, guys were over running it.
“It just looked we were off the game, I couldn’t believe it.”
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One man with knowledge of the internal workings of the Ireland setup, Leinster great Isa Nacewa, joined the panel to discuss the famous result and shared a perspective from directly inside the Irish camp.
“I talked to Johnny Sexton last night and he was saying that this was way bigger than Chicago,” Nacewa said.
“They came down here and had the mindset of winning a series. To be there, with that mindset, started a long time ago. They were so far down, they came here with confidence, they came down here to breed players.
“They said that performance last night was better than all the previous ones.”
Ireland first tasted success against the All Blacks in 2016 under Joe Schmidt, who pioneered another victory at home in 2018 before a disappointing defeat in the quarter-final of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
With his assistant Andy Farrell taking over the team, Ireland have continued their success against New Zealand and taken it even further.
When asked about what Andy Farrell brings to the squad, Nacewa said the belief he instills in everyone in camp has fuelled Irish rugby to another level.
“He just knows how to drive belief within a squad, and for the staff as well,” Nacewa said.
“Ireland have scored more tries this year than any other international team. They love and have fun playing this type of attack, but he is so critical in those reviews around what the system is.
“All the players across the board, they just default into knowing what to do, where to be on the field which is the complete opposite from what I saw from the All Blacks. Not just last night, but for awhile now.
“All the players just know how to do their job, do it really well, show up and just default into position, but that takes months, years to actually get to that.
“It didn’t happen off the bat for Andy Farrell straight away, but they continued to win games, they only lost a couple and got better and then the belief came.
“It was off the back of shedding the Joe Schmidt era, trusting a new process, getting there and everyone just buying into it.
“The last three weeks it worked, but it showed a long time before that.”
Comments on RugbyPass
A long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
2 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
2 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to comments