Kearney also believes Ireland will call upon the spirit and determination that saw them defeat Australia at the World Cup when they face New Zealand at Eden Park on Saturday.

The Irish will return to the ground where they defeated the Wallabies 15-9 last September for the first of their three Test matches against New Zealand.

Kearney said: “You’re representing your country against the All Blacks in their own back yard.

“I think that, as a professional player, if you can’t get yourself fired up at that thought alone then you are probably playing in the wrong game.”

Kearney, who won the European Player of the Year award after an impressive season with Leinster and Ireland, is looking forward to the weekend encounter in Auckland.

He said: “It was a huge occasion for us to turn over Australia in a World Cup. As players, we always believe that we can match it with the best teams in the world when we turn up and we play good rugby.

“As a player and as a team, you have to believe that.”

Kearney added: “There wasn’t a huge element of surprise for us [after beating Australia] as a group of players. What’s important for us is that we keep trying to reproduce that form.

“We set a bar there in that game, a standard, and it is important for us to keep matching that.”

Kearney admitted that it would be a different challenge to face New Zealand without Mils Muliaina, who wore the All Blacks number 15 jersey with distinction for nine years.

“Mils is a centurion and has been around for a long time,” said Kearney. “I think Israel Dagg has come in and done a really good job for them and, ultimately, pushed him out in that World Cup.”

Ulster scrum-half Paul Marshall watched Ireland’s World Cup heroics on TV but got a sense of the monumental effort put in to beat the fancied Australians.

“You don’t really get the intensity of a game when you watch it on TV but that was one thing that did come through in that Australia game – that the Irish team played with a serious intensity,” said Marshall.

“They were first to the ball when it was loose, they defended like champions, made their tackles and made every one count.

“At this level of rugby, the higher you go the less chances you have and you have to be clinical when they come. On that day, Ireland were very clinical.”

The 26-year-old scrum-half is on his first international tour and is revelling in the experience.

He said: “I’m delighted to be here and obviously I’d love to be involved at some point but I just have to wait and see how that unfolds.

“With it being winter here I thought the weather was going to be considerably worse. The first couple of days the sun was splitting the skies, it was brilliant.”

The grey skies that were absent upon Ireland’s arrival returned on Tuesday and are expected to linger for the Saturday evening clash at Eden Park.

But the change has not fazed Ireland’s forwards coach Greg Feek.

“It’s just like back home, in Ireland, so the boys will be used to it. It doesn’t really worry us to be honest,” said Feek.

“The boys want to play rugby, throw the ball around. I think the All Blacks will as well. You hope that the rain might stay away for a little bit but if not it will mean rolling the sleeves up a little bit and getting into the trenches.”