New Zealand have dropped Mark Telea heading into the quarter-final. It's not ideal. By all accounts he broke team curfew. In other words, you have to be back in the hotel by a certain time in the evening. That appears to be the issue.
There’s a lot being made of it. Telea is a very good player, but he’s not Jonah Lomu. He’s not one of the star players in the team. The guy who replaces him, Leicester Fainga'anuku, was outstanding last time out. I did the commentary on New Zealand-Uruguay, he got three tries that night. He’s an outstanding player.
In terms of the impact it has on Ireland, I don’t think it makes any difference.
All Blacks scrum-half great Justin Marshall has been talking up Ireland. New Zealand people know their rugby. Justin Marshall knows his rugby. They’ve been incredibly impressed by the way Ireland have played. We’re on the verge of a record-equalling 18 Test wins in a row. Unprecedented success for Ireland.
There’s a consistency in selection. People know the players, they know the team, they know the way they play. I think 13 of the side that start tomorrow played in the third Test in Wellington when Ireland won the series against the All Blacks. James Ryan and Robbie Henshaw are the only two that are missing.
There's a consistency in selection, an understanding, a fluidity that this team has. Teams know in advance what Ireland are going to go, but that doesn’t mean they can stop them. That is the key for New Zealand tomorrow.
There’s been a lot spoken about Joe Schmidt. He stood on the sidelines for that series last year but he was brought in immediately afterwards in a more hands-on role. The more this team is developing, you can see Schmidt’s hands all over them. Particularly in the set-piece attack.
Those power-plays that he was so famous for introducing in the Ireland set-up. Telea scored one in the opening minutes against France. Open, attacking lineout, it was typical Joe Schmidt. No doubt, New Zealand will be better for having him. Not only from a coaching perspective, just the knowledge that he has on the likes of Johnny Sexton and all those Irish players that he would have coached for so long.
The lack of tough games in the lead-in is an issue for New Zealand, there’s no question about that. In the three games since they lost to France the opening night, they’ve scored 36 tries and 240 points. You look at our games, the South Africa game was a dogfight. The key elements of Ireland’s game that day: their lineout was under pressure; the quality of the ball received at the breakdown was under pressure but yet they found a way to win.
You had to back that up then against Scotland and the opening-half performance against Scotland, in attack and defence, was up there with the best of that third Test in New Zealand the previous year. Ireland are getting better each game. New Zealand have so much individual talent. They put 96 points on Italy. There’s no team in the Six Nations have ever come close to putting 96 points on Italy.
They’re playing a quicker, faster brand of rugby. You look at the team that they’ve selected, even with the props that they’ve put on. They’ve gone for younger, more mobile props who mightn’t be as good scrummaging wise but, in terms of their quality and their ability, they influence the game around the field.
They’re probably a little bit sharper so there’s no question about the type of game that New Zealand are going to play but, Ireland can play that game as well. They like a high ball-in-play time in a game. That’s the beauty of this Irish team, they have been able to play whether it’s a slugfest against South Africa or that open, quality attacking game. They have both in their armoury.
I think we’ll win, I genuinely think we will. I think this is an outstanding group of players. New Zealand are not quite at the level they were at when they won the World Cup 2015. It’s going to be a very tight game, quarter-finals are. As Andy Farrell called it, this is big boy’s stuff but we have a lot of big boys to do the job.
Donal Lenihan was speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland
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