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Ireland 'like the All Blacks from some years ago' says Italy's head coach

By Ben Smith
Dan Sheehan of Ireland is congratulated by team mates after scoring his try of the match during the Ireland V Italy, Six Nations rugby union match at Aviva Stadium on February 11, 2024, in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Italy’s Argentinian head coach Gonzalo Quesada has compared the current day Ireland side to “the All Blacks of old” after their 36-0 win in Dublin.

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The former Pumas flyhalf played New Zealand four times during his playing career, twice in 1997 and twice in 2001.

His first outing against the All Blacks was a 97-0 defeat at Athletic Park in Wellington during Carlos Spencer’s debut. In his last, Argentina just fell short of a historic first-ever win when an injury time try stole a 24-20 win in Buenos Aires.

Ireland notched their 19th win from their last 20 Tests against the Azzurri, confirming their status as favourites for back-to-back Six Nations titles and Grand Slams.

After pushing England last week in round one, Italy were essentially out of contention by half-time at 19-0 as Ireland put on three tries.

Quesada said the first half performance was All Blacks-like for the accuracy and efficiency Ireland showed at set-piece.

“They didn’t need to do anything special, just go through their system, their attack,” he said post-match.

“They were always on the front foot and after several phases we were kind of waiting for them. It was not always like that, sometimes we defended better.

“The first-half was a bit different to the second but when we had that 19 points of difference it was like the All Blacks from some years ago when they do their basics and they had a hundred per cent from their scrum and their lineout and at high balls.

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“They were also running their rucks in attack and defence with extreme efficiency so there was nothing we didn’t expect in terms of level of performance.

“They did what we know they can do. The frustration is more that we didn’t put a bit more pressure on them.”

Ireland will resume their Six Nations campaign in a fortnight against Wales at home, while Italy host a round three clash with Scotland.

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Jon 3 hours ago
The case for keeping the Melbourne Rebels in Super Rugby Pacific

I have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.

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