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'They definitely know that we can beat them' - Irish winger reminds the All Blacks of last result between the two sides
Ireland have crushed Samoa 47-5 despite playing more than half the contest with 14 men to secure their spot Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.
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Ireland moved atop Pool A with 16 points ahead of hosts Japan’s game against Scotland on Sunday.
Scotland needs to win that game to have any chance of progressing, but they will have to wait until World Rugby assess conditions in the wake of Typhoon Hagibis before knowing if the game will go ahead at Yokohama today.
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If the game is cancelled, it will be logged as a tie and both teams will be awarded two competition points, enough for Japan to qualify for the knockout stage for the first time and set-up a quarter-final with New Zealand for Ireland.
When asked about the prospect of playing the side that they beat at home last November, Ireland’s coach Joe Schmidt said his side will need to be at their very best.
“You have to be at your very best to have a chance,” he said after the win over Samoa.
“The All Blacks are a team you can play at your best and still not get the result. They were not world No.1 for 10 years and are not back-to-back World Cup winners for no reason.
Schmidt likened beating the All Blacks as ‘climbing a mountain’ but will look for a second straight win over Steve Hansen’s side.
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“For us it would be a mountain to climb, but after tonight the lads got their boots on and got a few crampons out and have taken a little bit of an ascent, but the whole thing gets steeper next week and if it is the All Blacks we will look to scale those heights.”
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Munster winger Andrew Conway fired the first barb towards the Kiwis, saying they will ‘definitely’ know that Ireland can beat them, calling his side ‘battle-hardened’ after beating Samoa, Russia, and Scotland and losing to Japan.
“You can look at it in a negative or a positive way. New Zealand will be fresh, we’ll be battle-hardened,” he said.
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“I’d be surprised if they were scared of us but they definitely know that we can come and play and that we can beat them.
Conway praised the way New Zealand are playing at the moment to take some of the edge off his opening comments.
“They’re playing ridiculously well at the moment. They just look sharp. They’ve timed their run nicely so if it’s them we’ll have to be at 110 percent to get stuck into them.”
Flyhalf Johnny Sexton scored two of Ireland’s seven tries and finished with 18 points, but Bundee Aki became the first Ireland player to be red-carded at the World Cup, in Fukuoka on Saturday night.
The Irish needed to ensure they controlled their own quarterfinal prospects with a big win over the Samoans, and had wrapped up a bonus point by halftime.
Joe Schmidt and Rory Best talk to the press after beating Samoa:
Comments on RugbyPass
I’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
39 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
37 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
39 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
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