RUGBY IRELAND TOUR: IRELAND SEEK to end 105 years of hurt in the Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth this coming Saturday. After 22 meetings without a win, not even the golden generation have ticked that one empty box in Ireland's history. The flip side is that the All Blacks – always conscious of their places in history – will be equally determined to ensure that a first loss in the fixture doesn't happen on their watch.
According to David Wallace, who has been on the losing side in five of the last six defeats to the All Blacks dating back to the latter’s epic 40-29 win at Lansdowne Road in 2001, the key is not to let the baggage of history weigh Ireland down. “That’s not really in the forefront of our minds. Every time you play the All Blacks it’s a huge challenge in itself, in terms of just playing them physically and skilfully. We just have to focus on what we can do, the processes that we have to go through and make sure that we know all the calls, we know what we’re doing pattern-wise and fulfil all those things that we say we’re going to do.
“It’s about trying to win the game at the end of the day but first of all we do those things,” stressed Wallace. That’s our focus at the moment. Getting side-tracked with creating history and all that (is no good). Just playing the All Blacks and trying to do that is enough in itself.”
It would also help if everyone is fit and well, but as of yesterday, 13 players were absent from the squad’s initial base in Auckland – a dozen of them fully fledged internationals. Just to put this in further context, seven of them were in the first 22-man squad of the Test season, the 20-20 draw with Australia last November.
In addition to Luke Fitzgerald (who hasn’t played since that day), Stephen Ferris, Denis Leamy, Leo Cullen, Seán O’Brien and Donnacha Ryan – none of whom were available for selection in the original 30-man squad – another five have been rendered hors de combat: Paul O’Connell, Kevin McLaughlin, Rory Best, Keith Earls and Fergus McFadden.
Of some consolation is the news that Jonathan Sexton has fully recovered from the soreness in his face which forced him to pull out in the warm-up before the defeat to the Barbarians. “Jonny Sexton is fine,” confirmed Paul McNaughton yesterday. “His infection is clearing so he’ll be eligible for selection.”
The Irish manager also said that Jerry Flannery (calf) and Shane Horgan (stomach complaint) may yet link up with the squad, although neither will be in the frame for Saturday’s game.
McNaughton deflected criticism in the Kiwi press over their decision to initially prepare in Auckland before moving on to New Plymouth on Thursday. Citing an itinerary that began with the first of their long haul flights at 7am on Saturday, McNaughton said: “The idea of getting the guys on another plane today just wasn’t on from a recovery point of view.
“The other issue is that in the World Cup we’ll be playing a game in Auckland, we’ll be playing a game in New Plymouth and we’ll be playing a game in Rotorua (where Ireland play the Maoris next week).”
Eight players were ruled out of the All Blacks’ original 26-man squad for the games against Ireland and Wales (two), namely: Mike Delany (shoulder), Stephen Donald (shoulder), Jason Eaton (knee), Andrew Hore (shoulder), Ma’a Nonu (knee), Sitiveni Sivivatu (shoulder), Isaia Toeava (hip) and Ali Williams (Achilles).
Furthermore, Mils Muliaina, Richard Kahui and Tom Donnelly are highly doubtful. The All Blacks held an Open Day at Yarrow Stadium yesterday, Queens Birthday Monday, and are expected to give debuts to Aaron Cruden, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and fought back from the disease to captain New Zealand to the IRB World Under-20 title last year, and Israel Dagg, a goal-kicking and try-scoring fullback in his second year with the Highlanders.
The theory goes that the best chance of catching the All Blacks cold is in their seasonal opener, as France did last year. “It’s the same for all sides,” admitted Alan Gaffney. “When teams from here travel over for the November series, we haven’t been together from that point in time for almost eight months. You do realise that you’re going to be a bit rusty.”
With a six-day turnaround before Ireland face the New Zealand Maoris the following Friday, Gaffney confirmed that the team for that game will more closely resemble the side beaten by the Barbarians last Friday. “Mathematically they have to be because we’ve only got 30-odd out here!”
Hence, the second game hardly looks like offering much in the way of light relief. The New Zealand Maori coach Jamie Joseph and his assistant, Daryl Gibson, have named a strong squad, albeit featuring a dozen uncapped players, to mark their historic centenary series.
That begins with a game against the New Zealand Barbarians in Whangarei this Saturday before hosting Ireland and England. The Maoris have unveiled a new jersey for the centenary series Te Ao Hau (The New Dawn), and will be hosting Ireland in their spiritual home.
The suspicion lurks that Ireland’s best chance of a win on this tour might have been against the Wallabies this Saturday. In other words, that England have the best opportunity in Perth next Saturday of ending the 25-Test losing sequence by the four home unions away to the Tri-Nations since they beat Australia in the World Cup final in Sydney in 2003.
This is primarily because Australia have been hit by injuries to their entire first-choice frontrow after Ben Alexander suffered a medial ligament tear in last Saturday’s 49-3 win over Fiji in Canberra. He joins hooker Stephen Moore (fractured jaw) and fellow prop Ben Robinson (fractured arm) on the sidelines, with all of them ruled out for the next five or six weeks.
Furthermore, back-up hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau is out for the next week or two with ankle and shoulder injuries as, more importantly still, is the Queensland Reds scrumhalf Will Genia, now one of the outstanding number nines in the world.
Alas, Genia, Polota-Nau and Adam Ashley-Cooper are all liable to return for the second Test against England in Sydney on June 19th, a week before they host Ireland in Brisbane. This game time could prove particularly useful for the newly modelled frontrow which is liable to be pitched into the first Test against England this weekend.
Between them Pek Cowan, Saia Faingaa and Selesi Ma’afu have just six caps, the latter two making their Test debuts last Saturday. That took to 21 the number of debutants Robbie Deans has blooded and furthermore his experiment of playing Quaide Cooper at outhalf with Matt Giteau at inside centre will have had another couple of outings to gel.
IRELAND'S TOUR SCHEDULE:Saturday, June 12th – V New Zealand, New Plymouth (kick-off 7.35pm local time; 8.35am Irish time); Friday, June 18th: v New Zealand Maoris, Rotarua International Stadium, Rotarua (kick-off 7.35pm; 8.35am Irish time); Saturday, June 26th: v Australia, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane (kick-off 8pm local time; 11am Irish time).
