Rob Kearney: 'When I was still there, there was a huge element of fear'

The rivalry between the All Blacks and Ireland is in a different place to when Rob Kearney was involved, according to the man himself, who says there was an “element of fear” in the weeks leading up to the Tests against New Zealand.

Gone are the days when the fixture’s result is a forgone conclusion, with Ireland’s famous first win in Chicago in 2016 beginning a new, tightly contested chapter in the long-running history between the two sides.

The All Blacks may enter this weekend’s contest at Eden Park on a three-game winning streak against Andy Farrell’s squad, but what is now a tally of five Irish wins over the past decade has shifted the mindset in both camps.

Kearney played 95 Tests in the green jersey between 2007 and 2019, starting at fullback in the famous Chicago victory nine years into his Test career. He reflected on what the week of preparation for an All Blacks Test used to feel like ahead of this week’s showdown.

He told Sport Nation: “To be honest, my time when we were playing the All Blacks is a little bit different to the current crop of players we have now, because, not that there’s an expectation, but they know that we’ve beaten the All Blacks before, and done it away from home. Teams have surpassed all the teams that have gone before.

“But I guess when I was still there, there was still a huge element of fear to the week, because you know if you didn’t turn up, you could get pumped out of the gate by 60 points to nil, as happened in one of the games I was on.

“But that sort of fear and anxiety gets your senses going and can help you, big time, too. But I think the biggest thing is you can’t go into your shell, you’ve got to attack the All Blacks. You know you’re going to have to score lots of tries if you want to win the game, and I guess it loosens the shackles a little bit, as we saw with the French a few weeks ago.”

New Zealand have scored 81 points in two games to begin the inaugural Nations Championship, the third-best tally of all teams in the competition, trailing just South Africa and England. Ireland’s 69 points have come from a tight win over Australia and a hard-fought victory over Japan.

The ex-fullback saw plenty of talent in the current Ireland squad, although he did pinpoint one area of concern.

“Losing Lowey was a bit of a mistake in my opinion; he still offers a huge amount. And I don’t think we were absolutely flush in the wing position before that, so he’ll be missed tomorrow. But there’s an opportunity for some younger guys to lay down a marker.”