For All Blacks who were playing just a decade ago, it must have been difficult to think that a rivalry with Ireland would not just develop quickly but rank among the most significant in the sport.
It makes sense that any player who wore the black jersey before that momentous day in Chicago in 2016 would have been a little contemptuous of the guys in green, considering that Ireland had to wait 111 years to experience triumph over the All Blacks.
That has all changed now that they have won five of their last nine encounters, but Justin Marshall and Zinzan Brooke, two former All Blacks, recently shared their perspectives on the “type of arrogance” that the All Blacks exhibit when playing teams they have never defeated.
The two talked about how the “dynamics changed” between Ireland and New Zealand on the Good, the Bad & the Rugby podcast, and how the hosts at the Aviva Stadium on Friday no longer fear the three-time world champions.
This test now has a lot of “spice,” as evidenced by Peter O’Mahony’s remarks to Sam Cane and Reiko Ioane’s message to Johnny Sexton last year. According to Brooke, “if you’re going to give it out, you’ve got to take it as well.”
According to the former All Blacks No. 8, this was not always the case, even if it is currently one of the most important rugby matches.
“I’m sorry, Ireland, but playing you guys back in the day didn’t require us to get motivated,” Brooke remarked.
“You were unable to. You didn’t. You showed up, did the job, and kicked their ass.
“We simply knew that you’ll p**s this if we just deliver, function, and do the bare minimum.”
“We had a huge advantage when we played because they had never defeated us,” Marshall continued. Thus, history also hung over them. Given that you have been trying for more than a century, that is a lot of baggage to carry. Since we’ve been doing this for more than a century, we know how to do it, while you’re under a lot of pressure because you don’t.
We had that kind of attitude because, in the time we were playing, Argentina had never defeated us, Scotland and Ireland had never defeated us, and Wales had not defeated us and still hadn’t in about sixty years. We’ve suddenly adopted that mindset. On the other hand, they are no longer burdened by the fact that Ireland defeated them in Chicago for the first time. Because we had that advantage, the dynamics were different from when we were playing.
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