NEW ZEALAND LOCK Brodie Retallick says his team hope to keep Ireland’s fans quiet for next weekend’s huge World Cup quarter-final between the sides.
The Irish supporters have been one of the major stories of this World Cup so far, travelling to France in remarkable numbers to support Andy Farrell’s side.
Last night in Paris, a crowd of what looked like more than 60,000 Irish fans produced another spectacular atmosphere as a dominant win for Ireland against Scotland secured their place in the quarter-final against the All Blacks.
The final whistle was met with another rousing rendition of The Cranberries’ Zombie, which has become an anthem for the Irish fans at this tournament.
The sides will meet at Stade de France next Saturday night and the Kiwis are hoping not to hear Zombie after the final whistle.
“If we’re doing our job right, it keeps the crowd out of the game but that’s one of the awesome parts about a World Cup, is how vocal and the enthusiasm the crowd bring,” said Retallick today.
“I’ve seen them singing the Cranberries, great song but hopefully they are not singing on Saturday.”
The New Zealand camp includes former Ireland boss Joe Schmidt, who is now one of Ian Foster’s assistants with the All Blacks.
Schmidt will undoubtedly have a big role to play this week, with Foster underlining as much.
“His mindset is, as is mine, about what we do well and making sure we nail that,” said Foster.
“It’s not so much a matter of micro-analysing them to the nth degree that we get hung up and dampen our own game a little bit.
“He knows the Irish well but that’s information that we’ve been tapping into the last 12 months, and getting his nous in and refining how we play.”
Ireland are on a 17-game winning streak coming into this quarter-final and Foster said it will take a major effort from his men to end that.
“The fact it is Ireland, playing well, on top of their game, world number one, makes the challenge nice and simple,” said the All Blacks boss.
“They have got their game pretty well organised, well sorted. On a massive winning streak. Obviously, got a clear goal to create history for themselves in this tournament and probably are playing accordingly.
“So they’ll be confident and I kind of love that challenge.”
While Ireland have plenty of injury issues to deal with this week, the All Blacks look in relatively good shape on that front.
First-choice tighthead prop Tyrel Lomax is a doubt with a knee injury, but Foster issued an optimistic update on the front row today.
“He’s getting better by the day, better than we expected, likely to jog round this afternoon in a light, little session,” said Foster.
“I couldn’t definitively tell you he’s in now, but he’s definitely not out yet either. So I’ll take that as a positive.
“It’s just a strain, he’s had an injury there before. How much of it is old scar tissue, we are not quite clear yet but signs today are looking really good.”