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'We understand the way the Irish play. The whole world knows'
Leicester Fainga’anuku admits it will be the “pinnacle of his career” to date when he starts for New Zealand in Saturday’s blockbuster World Cup quarter-final showdown with Ireland in Paris.
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The 24-year-old wing has played only six times for the All Blacks since making his debut against the Irish in a summer Test in Auckland in July last year.
However, the Tonga-born back has been handed a surprise start in New Zealand’s biggest game of the tournament so far after fellow wing Mark Telea – who would almost certainly have donned the number 11 jersey on Saturday – was dropped for disciplinary reasons.
“For myself, I guess it’s the pinnacle of my career,” he said, speaking at Stade de France on the eve of the last-eight encounter in the French capital. “Every player dreams of the opportunity to go out and represent their nation.
“The first great opportunity was being named to come over and represent my nation at a World Cup. To be in this environment and at this tournament, it’s a massive pleasure.
“It’s something I’m extremely grateful for and don’t take for granted.”
Fainga’anuku’s first two appearances for New Zealand came against Ireland in the three-Test summer series in 2022. The Crusaders wing played the full 80 minutes as the All Blacks won 42-19 on his debut and he was then yellow-carded as the Irish gained revenge with a 23-12 triumph in the second Test.
Fainga’anuku had to wait over a year for his third cap when he started in the narrow win over Australia in August. He has subsequently appeared three times in the World Cup pool stage – chipping in with four tries – but he feels it will help him that a third of his caps have come against this weekend’s opponents.
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“It’s going to have its benefits that I played against Ireland previously,” he said. “We understand the way the Irish play. The whole world knows this Ireland is quite established both in attack and defence.
“It’s something we’ve been building towards the last few weeks.
“There’s a lot of confidence in the work we’ve done. As a collective, we’re focused on trying to earn ourselves another week here and take another step closer to the World Cup.”
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster is confident his side – ranked fourth in the world – are equipped to eliminate the world’s top-ranked team.
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“I think the work they’ve done in the past month, the last three or four months really,” he said when asked what gave him the belief they could halt the rampant Irish.
“We’ve always known coming to this World Cup that, assuming we did the business in the pool stage, it was most likely going to be Ireland or South Africa so either way it was going to be a monster quarter-final.
“It’s not like this is a surprise. We’ve mentally been ready for it. I have full belief in this group. If you look at the quarter-finals, there are going to be four quality teams that won’t be here in the semi-finals and we’re determined that we’re not going to be one of them.
“We know it’s a massive game. The only way to go into those games is believing in your game and who we are. I’ve told them to trust themselves, trust the work we’ve done and go out and express yourself.
“It’s a quarter-final so we don’t want to die wondering and go into our shell. It’s important to us that we play our game.”
Comments on RugbyPass
wel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
4 Go to commentsHard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
4 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
4 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
238 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
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