AS IF EXACTING revenge for the defeat in Chicago wasn’t enough motivation in itself, the All Blacks will take to the field on Saturday with Jonah Lomu very much in their thoughts.
Lomu, one of the game’s greats, passed away suddenly a year ago tomorrow and the current group of players are hoping to honour his memory in the best possible fashion at the Aviva Stadium.
“He is huge in the All Blacks’ history and we are aware of the anniversary,” Beauden Barrett said earlier.
“We don’t need any more motivation, but we are thinking of him and the impact he had on the All Blacks jersey.”
Sitting beside Barrett in New Zealand’s pre-match press conference, Julian Savea said he and his team-mates need to bring the pride back into the jersey against Ireland.
“We know what he has done in the jersey, and we have got it, we just have to bring that back against Ireland,” the 26-year-old said.
Steve Hansen echoed those sentiments, reiterating that Lomu — who scored 37 international tries during a glittering eight-year career — is still very much part of the All Black family.
“One of the things that is important to us is our legacy, which is fancy word for history,” the head coach explained. “And he [Lomu] is a big part of that and the boys will be aware of that and they’ll talk about it amongst themselves and they’ll talk about it as a team.
“We let our history down in Chicago and didn’t perform to the level we expect.”
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