THERE WAS A moment during last weekend’s defeat of Scotland where the Stade de France cameras honed in on Andrew Porter, who had been relieved of his duties and was now sitting on the Ireland bench. With 54 minutes played and Ireland cruising at 31-0 up, the 27-year-old stared straight down the lens, then turned to catch a glimpse of himself on the big screen before quickly shooting his eyes back in the direction of the camera.
It was small, playful moment but it also served as a reminder of just how much this squad appear to be enjoying this World Cup.
Even this week, with the challenge of the All Blacks looming large on the horizon, Porter was in relaxed mood as he sat down with the assembled press to preview the game. Joking around with his microphone, he certainly didn’t have the look of someone who is still scarred by the experience of the 2019 World Cup, where New Zealand put 46 points on Ireland to dump them out of the tournament.
Old news. Since 2019, Ireland have played the All Blacks on four occasions and won three times. Two of those wins came in New Zealand just last year.
“Irish rugby has come such a long way, even in the last four years since the last World Cup,” Porter says.
“I remember growing up watching the All Blacks. Jonah Lomu was my favourite player growing up. I had the honour, the chance of meeting him when he played in Dublin. They are an incredible team still and they will be a huge challenge for us this weekend.
I think that we can take a lot of confidence from our previous encounters with them. I am just backing our own ability and I have that belief from our previous performances against them.”
If they are to get over the line, Porter will have a central role. The loosehead started all four of Ireland’s pool games, including an impressive 74 minute shift against the Springboks, before another high-energy display against Scotland last time out.
Yet Porter was quick to play down any fears of burnout kicking in as Ireland look to carry their pool stage momentum into the knockout rounds.
“Obviously like you say there was a very high ball-in-play time last week. We are looked after incredibly well by our coaches; we are feeling like we have just started the tournament nearly.
“We are mentally fresh and physically fresh coming into this weekend, so I think that is incredibly positive to be that well looked after like that.”
On Saturday an unchanged Ireland team will see Porter link up again with Tadhg Furlong and Dan Sheehan in the front row. Yesterday, a New Zealand journalist asked Porter if the dynamic trio had helped to reinvent front row play.
“I don’t think we have reinvented front row play, I just think it is the way that the game is going.
“It’s an incredibly fast game and I think the ball in play time was so high last week that we were just forced to get through a lot of work.
“It’s just how we have been conditioned, prepared, especially in our pre-season. Our S&C coaches have prepared us incredibly well physically but we have also been mentally well prepared by Gary Keegan our mental skills coach.
“It is about bringing yourself to that dark place in your mind to know you are going to have to get through a lot of work. You take a lot of confidence from the guys either side of you to be able to get through so much work.
“Paulie (O’Connell) would be all over a lot of things,” Porter added.
“He would take a lot of his previous experience playing, he would have known better than a lot of people what it takes to play at this level and where you have to go mentally and physically in the game. He has been a huge addition to the squad, not just forwards but the backs as well.”