O'Sullivan relishing All Blacks clash
Ireland rugby coach Eddie O’Sullivan has warned New Zealand they will face a different side when they meet in Hamilton on Saturday.
The All Blacks hammered O’Sullivan’s team 45-7 in Dublin last November on their way to a grand slam but Ireland have since impressed by winning the Triple Crown at the Six Nations.
O’Sullivan is still under no illusions as the the magnitude of the task ahead, with Ireland having not beaten the All Blacks in 101 years of competition, but is looking forward to the clash.
“We’ve turned around our game a lot more,” O’Sullivan said. “We went from the team that kicked most in the Six Nations in 2005 to the team that kicked the least in 2006.
“In the first 50 minutes we played in Paris when we forced our game, we made a lot of mistakes. That was a salient moment for us.”
New Zealand have left out key players such as fly-half Daniel Carter, blindside flanker Jerry Collins and half-back Piri Weepu but O’Sullivan admits opposite number Graham Henry usually rotates his players well.
“He’s been very smart in his selections,” said O’Sullivan. “He’s got a few young, exciting players in there.”
The All Blacks, who have been in Hamilton since Sunday, are taking the match on face value and not yet thinking ahead to next year’s World Cup.
Henry is slowly building up to the tournament in France and wants to ensure he has a large and experienced player pool to choose from.
Henry said: “We’re just talking about each campaign and trying to improve as we go on, and some time, hopefully near the latter part of next year we’ll be in good shape.
“We’ve got certain objectives for this campaign.
“You don’t learn how to play international rugby any other way than playing at this level. By the end of the year, hopefully we’ll have 30 players equally good, no matter who we play.
“We want a team of 30 rather than a team of 15 or 22 and that’s what we’re trying to achieve.”
Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll is expecting to face fierce pressure from the All Blacks backline even though long-standing rival Tana Umaga is no longer a member of the team.
Umaga retired from international rugby at the start of the year but O’Driscoll will be faced in the centres by a player from of the same mould in Ma’a Nonu.
While Nonu will not be making his Test debut, having played 11 Tests since making his first game in Wellington against England in 2003, he has a chance in this series to stamp his mark on the position.
“One guy outgoing gives someone else a chance,” he said, noting that Nonu had a strong Super 14 with his Hurricanes side this year, ironically paired with Umaga.
“I’m sure he’ll be given his opportunity to go out and play similarly to what he did in the Super 14.”
Another player for the Irish to watch will be inside centre Aaron Mauger.
“He seems to have been around for a long time,” O’Driscoll said. “He’s always been on the fringes of the side and he was heavily involved in beating us in 2002 when creating a couple of tries.
“But you could put out five different sets of centres in New Zealand and they would do the job. We’ll have our work cut out, but hopefully they will too.”
