ROB KEARNEY HAS painful memories of facing a wounded All Blacks team.
He has poked this bear before, and been viciously mauled in return.
While Ireland couldn’t get themselves over the line against the Kiwis in Christchurch in 2012, it did take a controversial scrum penalty decision from Nigel Owens and a late drop goal from Dan Carter to pull New Zealand through as 22-19 winners.
A week later in Hamilton, the All Blacks came out to prove a point. Utterly focused on reminding Ireland that they were the best team in the world, New Zealand hammered Declan Kidney’s men 60-0, scoring nine tries.
Kearney was at fullback for Ireland on that dark day in Waikato Stadium and hasn’t quite managed to erase it from his memory.
“The only thing I remember in that game is constantly being under our sticks,” says Kearney. “There was a try every few minutes at least. That was a tough night.
I remember Romain Poite sin-binned me, it wasn’t a yellow card now, but I remember thinking, ‘Jeez, I’d be happy enough just to stay here for the rest of the game.’
“It was an awful night and it just shows that if you poke the bear… we came really close to them in Christchurch, a game we probably should have closed out. There was a backlash then and there’ll be another one this week.”
Indeed there will be and it is funny how quickly Ireland have had to move on from their history-making feats in Chicago.
Kearney says there was a degree of excitement and joy post-Soldier Field, but also admits that winning against the All Blacks was “probably a little anti-climactic.” Certainly, the looming challenge of a second Test against Steve Hansen’s side contributed to that.
While enjoying the success as much as they could, Ireland also paid close attention to the All Blacks’ reaction to a first-ever loss to an Irish team.
“They were pretty humble in defeat and it was probably something that a lot of us were looking out for to see just exactly how they were going to react,” says Kearney.
“We had a really quick post-match function with them and Rory [Best] spoke about how wounded they would be and how impressed we were as a group with how they accepted the defeat.
“But we knew they were going to come [back] really strong. As a group, we recognised that straight away, that the New Zealand that’s going to come on Saturday is guaranteed to be different to the one that was in Chicago.
We just need to make sure that the Ireland is different too.”
Kearney is direct in stating that the All Blacks “played pretty poorly” in Chicago, again stressing the need for Ireland to be prepared for an altogether different challenge.
They will be steeled by what promises to be a deafening Aviva Stadium, where Kearney scored an intercept try in the infamous 2013 clash, slamming the ball into the ground after sprinting 75 metres to score.
“I just remember the noise; it was something I’ve never heard before, it was a huge amount of adrenaline going,” says Kearney.
“Had I known the final score that was coming, I’d probably not have slammed the ball down so hard! Maybe a lesson learned – try and get away from Kieran Read and get under the sticks.”
Last time out in Chicago, Kearney looked to be back somewhere close to his best, winning key aerial battles, beating defenders and making a linebreak in the lead-up to CJ Stander’s try.
Shades of the Kearney of yesteryear.
And yet, the 30-year-old wasn’t totally happy with his performance in the immediate aftermath, citing some tackling and positioning as his chief individual concerns. Having had two weeks to analyse the issues, he feels he’s in a good place.
“Back three, positionally, we’re going to get tested a huge amount more,” says Kearney. “They didn’t kick as much ball in Chicago as we expected them to. Against Italy at the weekend, I think they kicked just shy of 40 balls.
“It’s an area we’re going to be tested a huge amount more than we were, so that’s something that we need to up.
“Tackling-wise, the first one against [Waisake] Naholo for their first try, that’s always an unbelievably difficult tackle. People sometimes expect those to get made. When you’ve got Naholo with 20 metres either side of you, it’s difficult.
“The one on [Scott] Barrett for his try was poor. I just planted a little bit too early and left my feet behind me. He sort of threw a half shimmy but I needed to stop him on that occasion.
“So they’re things that I was working on again last week when we got back. Sometimes when you make mistakes in a game, the best way is just to go out and practice a few of them on the Tuesday and Wednesday.”
There is a sense that Kearney’s belief is growing, and that Chicago will have done him the world of good in that regard.
Having been brutually honest after that fixture, saying that his head had been a dark place in recent months, Kearney says he can’t allow the achievements of Chicago to bring him to the other extreme.
“I never got too low during the tough times. It is important now that you don’t get too high on the other side. Listen, it is another game under my belt.
“Yeah, there is a little confidence back, but I need to back it up. The onus is on me to do that.”
