WHATEVER ABOUT THE venue and the record, this game has to be very different for Ireland from a performance point of view.
After fighting it out with New Zealand in one of the all-time great World Cup games in 2023, Andy Farrell’s team have been poor against the Kiwis in their last two meetings in 2024 and 2025.
So this showing at the sold-out 46,500-capacity Eden Park on Saturday [KO 8.10am Irish time, Virgin Media] must be considerably better. This is a different All Blacks team with a new coaching staff and a renewed focus on their attack, but the bits directly in Ireland’s control have to improve.
Whether Ireland are good enough to win remains to be seen. There is no shame in losing at Eden Park to a team as talented as New Zealand, particularly with some key players missing, including skipper Caelan Doris.
Yet the Irish performance against the All Blacks hasn’t been at the level they expect of themselves in those last two meetings, so this needs to be a display they’re proud of.
Ball in hand
The return of Rob Baloucoune on the right wing is timely because he helped to energise the Irish attack during this year’s Six Nations, bringing more pace and cutting edge.
He combined well with the toweing figure of Stuart McCloskey, who has only recently returned from injury himself. The inside centre has had two games to get back up to speed and will back himself to go up a level at Eden Park.
Ireland need those attacking weapons to fire after two moribund attacking displays against the All Blacks in 2024 and 2025.
They made just one linebreak against the Kiwis in 2024 and only two in the 2025 game, which is miles off Ireland’s usual average of 6.1 linebreaks per game in the period since the 2023 World Cup, according to Opta data.
None of those three linebreaks against the All Blacks led to a try.
Ireland have been second best against New Zealand the last two times. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Ireland generally average 128 carries per game, but in those two games against New Zealand, they made just 85 and 86 carries. So getting their hands on the ball far more often will be a focus.
Ireland have been relatively wasteful when in the Kiwi 22 in these past two meetings, scoring 1.4 points per entry, which is a notable drop from their usual level of 2.7 points per entry.
This trend of dropping off against the All Blacks shows across several other attacking metrics, including defenders beaten and metres gained, all of which meant Ireland scored only 13 points in both of the aforementioned matches.
In short, Ireland have got almost nothing going with their attack against the All Blacks, who deserve credit for their defensive efforts and their ability to limit Farrell’s men in creating promising chances.
This time around, Ireland need halfbacks Jamison Gibson-Park and Sam Prendergast, who is making his first start against the All Blacks, to be at their creative best. They’ll hope to bring McCloskey and Baloucoune into the game in a big way too.
Platform
A wobbly day at the lineout last weekend only magnified the importance of Ireland getting their set-piece nailed on against the All Blacks.
“Very confident” was Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan’s succinct response on Friday when asked if they’re confident that the lineout will fire.
That belief is built on the Irish lineout having run at 94.7% success on their own throw during this year’s Six Nations. It seems unlikely they will get to that level against the All Blacks, who always have an excellent lineout defence, but it needs to be solid.
In the period since the 2023 World Cup, Ireland’s overall lineout success is at 88%, which is strong in the modern game, where defences are so well-organised.
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But against the All Blacks in 2024, Ireland’s lineout ran at 70%. It was even worse in 2015 at 69%.
The lineout will be a key battleground. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
That partly explains why the Irish attack struggled to get going in those games, with a lack of platform denying them the chance to get rolling with ball in hand by using their usually clever strike plays.
To be fair to Ireland, they did make a dent on the Kiwi lineout last year, with the All Blacks only at 75% success on their own throw.
Given that both teams have selected a lock/blindside hybrid at number six for Saturday’s game, it seems likely that we will have another tit-for-tat battle. Tadhg Beirne and Tupou Vaa’i will bring lots of lineout and maul skills at blindside.
With the new maul guidelines now settling in, it will be intriguing to see how Ireland and New Zealand use that as part of their attacking armoury. Paul O’Connell and Jason Ryan are two technical, detailed forwards coaches who are good at producing smart maul plans. It promises to be another good contest.
For Ireland, getting well up over 70% on their lineout throw is a key priority this time.
Up front
The scrum was among the concerns for Ireland coming out of this year’s Six Nations, with some tough days against England and Italy in that area during the championship following a scrum humbling at the hands of South Africa last November.
Therefore, it was frustrating for Ireland to concede two penalties against the Wallabies at the start of this campaign, albeit they were unfortunate that Jeremy Loughman got injured soon after replacing Tom O’Toole at loosehead prop.
Upon returning, O’Toole was penalised twice at the scrum against powerful Australian replacement tighthead Taniela Tupou.
Ireland had a tit-for-tat day at the scrum against Japan last weekend, with three scrum penalties apiece in that area of the game in Newcastle.
All three of those Irish penalty concessions were against O’Toole, so he will be aiming to get on the right side of referee Nic Berry at Eden Park as he goes up against All Blacks tighthead Tyrel Lomax.
Nic Berry will be making the calls at scrum time. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
On the other side, there will be an interesting tussle between Tadhg Furlong and Ethan de Groot as they lock horns once again, while the replacement front rows will probably have a big say in this area.
“The South Africa game was particularly dark,” said Furlong. “I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near that level now, but we’re working hard. We’re working hard together.”
In 2024, Ireland conceded one scrum penalty to New Zealand’s zero. And in 2025, Ireland gave up three scrum penalties to the Kiwis’ one.
They would dearly love to flip that part of the script on its head this weekend.
Kicking on
Ireland will be intent on showing far more of their quality with ball in hand, and kicking will be a key part of their plan in that regard. Retaining kicks via aerial contests is now a key part of high-level rugby, giving the attack chances against unstructured defences.
Ireland haven’t fared particularly well in this regard against New Zealand in their last two games, retaining just 9% of their kicks in 2024 and then 13% of their kicks in 2025. Those are both short of their average of 15% in the period since the 2023 World Cup.
Farrell will want to see Baloucoune, fullback Hugo Keenan, and left wing Jimmy O’Brien showing up well in this regard. Indeed, O’Brien’s selection for this game was partly sealed by his quality in the air against Japan last weekend, when he created lots of excellent situations for Ireland with his wins in those duels.
Against New Zealand, it seems likely that Ireland will aim to get one-on-ones for their back three against 5ft 9ins fullback Damian McKenzie and 6ft out-half Ruben Love, who is facing into the biggest game of his career by some distance. McKenzie and Love can both leap like salmon, but it’s not hard to see Ireland planning to win the ball over them.
The aerial contests are likely to be ferociously contested. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
The work from Ireland around the contests will be as important as ever, with the scraps on the ground now a key source of possession.
Ireland generally haven’t kicked long in recent times, preferring to kick shorter contestables, so it will be interesting to see if Gibson-Park and Prendergast look to vary their approach this time around. That is a dangerous game against the Kiwis’ counter-attacking threat.
Prendergast has a lovely attacking kicking game that hasn’t been fully harnessed by Ireland yet, so we await some nice chips, grubbers and cross kicks.
Limiting the damage
New Zealand will almost certainly score tries against Ireland, and probably a few of them. Their reinvigorated attack has been exciting in the last two weekends and while Ireland will feel they can limit chances by not being loose with the ball, the likes of Will Jordan, Love, McKenzie and the brilliant Jordie Barrett will always create.
Barrett is in peak form with his relentless carry, kick and pass threat. He can offload, pass long or short, kick off both feet, run over people, step around them, speed past them, and more.
Jordan’s freakish try-scoring record continues to impress every time he plays, and he’s usually good for a remarkable solo effort. Ardie Savea, meanwhile, remains a potent force every time he touches the ball.
And if opposition defences over-focus on any of those threats, Kiwi scrum-half Cam Roigard is ready to strike. He is a busy running number nine.
In the period since the 2023 World Cup, no other scrum-half at the top level of Test rugby has averaged more tries per game than Roigard’s 1.08, according to Opta.
No one else has beaten more defenders than Roigard’s 4.1.
Cam Roigard is danger man at scrum-half. Photosport / Robert Alam/INPHO
Photosport / Robert Alam/INPHO / Robert Alam/INPHO
Roigard is second in the world for scrum-half carries [8.7 per game], metres gained [52.2], and offloads [1.37], behind only Antoine Dupont.
So Ireland will be expecting plenty of carrying from Roigard, who generally doesn’t deliver many assists compared to other scrum-halves.
On top of that, Roigard is a strong defender. Indeed, Roigard’s 9.6 tackles per game at a success rate of 90.7% have him among the top three scrum-halves.
It’s the attacking threat around the breakdown that Ireland will be keen to nullify, although the All Blacks have concerns of their own about the influential Gibson-Park, who is generally the talisman when Ireland have their best days.
This showdown between two of the top scrum-halves in the world promises to be box office in a game featuring several thrilling match-ups.
The last two meetings between Ireland and New Zealand have not been classics, but the hope is that this one in Eden Park delivers fireworks. The All Blacks are favourites in their fortress, but Ireland will be intent on upsetting the odds.
NEW ZEALAND: Damian McKenzie; Will Jordan, Quinn Tupaea, Jordie Barrett, Josh Moorby; Ruben Love, Cam Roigard; Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor, Tyrel Lomax; Josh Lord, Patrick Tuipulotu; Tupou Vaa’i, Luke Jacobson, Ardie Savea (captain).
Replacements: Asafo Aumua, Xavier Numia, Fletcher Newell, Anton Segner, Peter Lakai, Cortez Ratima, Anton Lienert-Brown, Caleb Clarke.
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan; Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, Jimmy O’Brien; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Tom O’Toole, Dan Sheehan (captain), Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jeremy Loughman, Thomas Clarkson, Nick Timoney, Sean Jansen, Craig Casey, Ciarán Frawley, Bundee Aki.
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This is how Ireland need to flip the script against the All Blacks
WHATEVER ABOUT THE venue and the record, this game has to be very different for Ireland from a performance point of view.
After fighting it out with New Zealand in one of the all-time great World Cup games in 2023, Andy Farrell’s team have been poor against the Kiwis in their last two meetings in 2024 and 2025.
So this showing at the sold-out 46,500-capacity Eden Park on Saturday [KO 8.10am Irish time, Virgin Media] must be considerably better. This is a different All Blacks team with a new coaching staff and a renewed focus on their attack, but the bits directly in Ireland’s control have to improve.
Whether Ireland are good enough to win remains to be seen. There is no shame in losing at Eden Park to a team as talented as New Zealand, particularly with some key players missing, including skipper Caelan Doris.
Yet the Irish performance against the All Blacks hasn’t been at the level they expect of themselves in those last two meetings, so this needs to be a display they’re proud of.
Ball in hand
The return of Rob Baloucoune on the right wing is timely because he helped to energise the Irish attack during this year’s Six Nations, bringing more pace and cutting edge.
He combined well with the toweing figure of Stuart McCloskey, who has only recently returned from injury himself. The inside centre has had two games to get back up to speed and will back himself to go up a level at Eden Park.
Ireland need those attacking weapons to fire after two moribund attacking displays against the All Blacks in 2024 and 2025.
They made just one linebreak against the Kiwis in 2024 and only two in the 2025 game, which is miles off Ireland’s usual average of 6.1 linebreaks per game in the period since the 2023 World Cup, according to Opta data.
None of those three linebreaks against the All Blacks led to a try.
Ireland generally average 128 carries per game, but in those two games against New Zealand, they made just 85 and 86 carries. So getting their hands on the ball far more often will be a focus.
Ireland have been relatively wasteful when in the Kiwi 22 in these past two meetings, scoring 1.4 points per entry, which is a notable drop from their usual level of 2.7 points per entry.
This trend of dropping off against the All Blacks shows across several other attacking metrics, including defenders beaten and metres gained, all of which meant Ireland scored only 13 points in both of the aforementioned matches.
In short, Ireland have got almost nothing going with their attack against the All Blacks, who deserve credit for their defensive efforts and their ability to limit Farrell’s men in creating promising chances.
This time around, Ireland need halfbacks Jamison Gibson-Park and Sam Prendergast, who is making his first start against the All Blacks, to be at their creative best. They’ll hope to bring McCloskey and Baloucoune into the game in a big way too.
Platform
A wobbly day at the lineout last weekend only magnified the importance of Ireland getting their set-piece nailed on against the All Blacks.
“Very confident” was Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan’s succinct response on Friday when asked if they’re confident that the lineout will fire.
That belief is built on the Irish lineout having run at 94.7% success on their own throw during this year’s Six Nations. It seems unlikely they will get to that level against the All Blacks, who always have an excellent lineout defence, but it needs to be solid.
In the period since the 2023 World Cup, Ireland’s overall lineout success is at 88%, which is strong in the modern game, where defences are so well-organised.
But against the All Blacks in 2024, Ireland’s lineout ran at 70%. It was even worse in 2015 at 69%.
That partly explains why the Irish attack struggled to get going in those games, with a lack of platform denying them the chance to get rolling with ball in hand by using their usually clever strike plays.
To be fair to Ireland, they did make a dent on the Kiwi lineout last year, with the All Blacks only at 75% success on their own throw.
Given that both teams have selected a lock/blindside hybrid at number six for Saturday’s game, it seems likely that we will have another tit-for-tat battle. Tadhg Beirne and Tupou Vaa’i will bring lots of lineout and maul skills at blindside.
With the new maul guidelines now settling in, it will be intriguing to see how Ireland and New Zealand use that as part of their attacking armoury. Paul O’Connell and Jason Ryan are two technical, detailed forwards coaches who are good at producing smart maul plans. It promises to be another good contest.
For Ireland, getting well up over 70% on their lineout throw is a key priority this time.
Up front
The scrum was among the concerns for Ireland coming out of this year’s Six Nations, with some tough days against England and Italy in that area during the championship following a scrum humbling at the hands of South Africa last November.
Therefore, it was frustrating for Ireland to concede two penalties against the Wallabies at the start of this campaign, albeit they were unfortunate that Jeremy Loughman got injured soon after replacing Tom O’Toole at loosehead prop.
Upon returning, O’Toole was penalised twice at the scrum against powerful Australian replacement tighthead Taniela Tupou.
Ireland had a tit-for-tat day at the scrum against Japan last weekend, with three scrum penalties apiece in that area of the game in Newcastle.
All three of those Irish penalty concessions were against O’Toole, so he will be aiming to get on the right side of referee Nic Berry at Eden Park as he goes up against All Blacks tighthead Tyrel Lomax.
On the other side, there will be an interesting tussle between Tadhg Furlong and Ethan de Groot as they lock horns once again, while the replacement front rows will probably have a big say in this area.
“The South Africa game was particularly dark,” said Furlong. “I wouldn’t say it’s anywhere near that level now, but we’re working hard. We’re working hard together.”
In 2024, Ireland conceded one scrum penalty to New Zealand’s zero. And in 2025, Ireland gave up three scrum penalties to the Kiwis’ one.
They would dearly love to flip that part of the script on its head this weekend.
Kicking on
Ireland will be intent on showing far more of their quality with ball in hand, and kicking will be a key part of their plan in that regard. Retaining kicks via aerial contests is now a key part of high-level rugby, giving the attack chances against unstructured defences.
Ireland haven’t fared particularly well in this regard against New Zealand in their last two games, retaining just 9% of their kicks in 2024 and then 13% of their kicks in 2025. Those are both short of their average of 15% in the period since the 2023 World Cup.
Farrell will want to see Baloucoune, fullback Hugo Keenan, and left wing Jimmy O’Brien showing up well in this regard. Indeed, O’Brien’s selection for this game was partly sealed by his quality in the air against Japan last weekend, when he created lots of excellent situations for Ireland with his wins in those duels.
Against New Zealand, it seems likely that Ireland will aim to get one-on-ones for their back three against 5ft 9ins fullback Damian McKenzie and 6ft out-half Ruben Love, who is facing into the biggest game of his career by some distance. McKenzie and Love can both leap like salmon, but it’s not hard to see Ireland planning to win the ball over them.
The work from Ireland around the contests will be as important as ever, with the scraps on the ground now a key source of possession.
Ireland generally haven’t kicked long in recent times, preferring to kick shorter contestables, so it will be interesting to see if Gibson-Park and Prendergast look to vary their approach this time around. That is a dangerous game against the Kiwis’ counter-attacking threat.
Prendergast has a lovely attacking kicking game that hasn’t been fully harnessed by Ireland yet, so we await some nice chips, grubbers and cross kicks.
Limiting the damage
New Zealand will almost certainly score tries against Ireland, and probably a few of them. Their reinvigorated attack has been exciting in the last two weekends and while Ireland will feel they can limit chances by not being loose with the ball, the likes of Will Jordan, Love, McKenzie and the brilliant Jordie Barrett will always create.
Barrett is in peak form with his relentless carry, kick and pass threat. He can offload, pass long or short, kick off both feet, run over people, step around them, speed past them, and more.
Jordan’s freakish try-scoring record continues to impress every time he plays, and he’s usually good for a remarkable solo effort. Ardie Savea, meanwhile, remains a potent force every time he touches the ball.
And if opposition defences over-focus on any of those threats, Kiwi scrum-half Cam Roigard is ready to strike. He is a busy running number nine.
In the period since the 2023 World Cup, no other scrum-half at the top level of Test rugby has averaged more tries per game than Roigard’s 1.08, according to Opta.
No one else has beaten more defenders than Roigard’s 4.1.
Roigard is second in the world for scrum-half carries [8.7 per game], metres gained [52.2], and offloads [1.37], behind only Antoine Dupont.
So Ireland will be expecting plenty of carrying from Roigard, who generally doesn’t deliver many assists compared to other scrum-halves.
On top of that, Roigard is a strong defender. Indeed, Roigard’s 9.6 tackles per game at a success rate of 90.7% have him among the top three scrum-halves.
It’s the attacking threat around the breakdown that Ireland will be keen to nullify, although the All Blacks have concerns of their own about the influential Gibson-Park, who is generally the talisman when Ireland have their best days.
This showdown between two of the top scrum-halves in the world promises to be box office in a game featuring several thrilling match-ups.
The last two meetings between Ireland and New Zealand have not been classics, but the hope is that this one in Eden Park delivers fireworks. The All Blacks are favourites in their fortress, but Ireland will be intent on upsetting the odds.
NEW ZEALAND: Damian McKenzie; Will Jordan, Quinn Tupaea, Jordie Barrett, Josh Moorby; Ruben Love, Cam Roigard; Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor, Tyrel Lomax; Josh Lord, Patrick Tuipulotu; Tupou Vaa’i, Luke Jacobson, Ardie Savea (captain).
Replacements: Asafo Aumua, Xavier Numia, Fletcher Newell, Anton Segner, Peter Lakai, Cortez Ratima, Anton Lienert-Brown, Caleb Clarke.
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan; Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, Jimmy O’Brien; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Tom O’Toole, Dan Sheehan (captain), Tadhg Furlong; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan.
Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Jeremy Loughman, Thomas Clarkson, Nick Timoney, Sean Jansen, Craig Casey, Ciarán Frawley, Bundee Aki.
Referee: Nic Berry [Australia].
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