IRE team announcement (v NZL): head coach Farrell, captain Sexton, Beirne, Keenan, Porter

Andy Farrell, head coach

On Mack Hansen being fit to start:

“He obviously had a few things to do at the start of the week but he has come good and everyone is really confident in him.”

On if they have broken New Zealand’s aura of invincibility with three wins in their last four meetings:

“I don’t think we think too much about it. It’s about the here and now. What’s gone on in the past is irrelevant. We’re just trying to get better as a team, and so are they, and roll on in the competition. What will be at forefront is a mutual respect for where both teams are sitting right now. The competition is where it should be for a quarter-final.”

On being able to name the same starting XV:

“People get injured and there are always bangs at the start of the week. Some turn round a lot quicker than you would expect. As far as Keith Earls is concerned, it was a little bit too quick for him this week, so he will get back to his rehab and we are very confident if we push on through [to the semi-finals], he will be fit for next week. It’s the same with Robbie Henshaw, they are both progressing well. James Ryan is out with a wrist injury but we expect him to be fit for next week if we are able to get that far.”

On whether the mood has changed now they are into the knockout stages:

“We were in the same mood last week. It’s big-boy stuff, isn’t it, we’re at the business end of the competition. When you get to this point in the competition, you hopefully draw on the good experiences you have had and put ourselves under over the last few years for moments like this. We have got a very experienced group who have been through a lot.”

On whether as a head coach he ever works with mental skills coach Gary Keegan:

“I’m constantly locking myself in a room and giving myself a good dressing down! Obviously Gary gets us as mentally fit as we can be. But myself, Gary and the rest of coaches do everything together and work out what’s needed for the team.”

On Joe McCarthy and Jimmy O’Brien, who have come onto the bench:

“Joe’s not been playing over the last couple of weeks but I keep seeing him grow all the time. It’s time for him to come into a big game like this. Jimmy got a knock on his shoulder during the Samoa game [before the RWC] and was out for the first two games. But he’s unbelievably smart, unbelievably fit and unbelievably good at fitting into different positions. So with the bit of disruption we had at the start of the week, it makes more sense for us to go with that option.”

Johnny Sexton, captain

On what personal satisfaction he would take from knocking the All Blacks out of the competition:

“I haven’t thought once about personally what the game means. It’s all about the team, it’s nothing personal. I’ve had some great battles against New Zealand over the years, with Ireland and the Lions.  What you learn is every game is as tough as the last. That’s what we’re preparing for, the toughest game we have ever faced, and we are trying to put ourselves in the frame of mind that we are going to be ready for it.”

On the mental hurdle of Ireland never getting past a RWC quarter-final:

“We have worked on our mental game for the last four years and put ourselves in different scenarios to prepare for this. Each quarter-final, or where we haven’t got through our pool, have all been different, and it’s a different group again. Each of those groups lost once. It wasn’t the same group losing quarter-finals year and year. If it was club rugby it might be different but I don’t think we are carrying much baggage. It is a one-off game and we have got to prepare for now.”

On trying to finish his own career by winning a RWC:

“Trying to win a World Cup, it’s something to go and get. It’s not something that puts pressure on me. It’s something you dream of – probably not as a kid, because when we were kids we didn’t dream of Ireland winning a World Cup. I supposed we have put ourselves in a position to do that now. But it’s not something I’ve thought about in terms of my own career. I will think about it more when I finish. It’s all geared up to Saturday and it’s another massive challenge for this team, the biggest we have faced and we are looking forward to it.”

On Joe Schmidt’s influence for New Zealand:

“I see evidence of Joe’s coaching through the team. Joe’s done a great job over the last 12 months, they’ve made big strides. Joe knows us well, we know him well, but Joe doesn’t get to make any tackles or run any lines at the weekend. But the legacy he left Irish rugby is massive.”

Tadhg Beirne, second-row

On how big a factor winning a series in New Zealand last summer will be:

“We will take the learnings from that. An away series win in New Zealand had not been done before by an Irish team so we will take confidence from that. But a year and a few months is a long time in rugby. I think they will be a different side come Saturday. We are massively looking forward to the challenge and we will take confidence from that [series win], but we are not getting ahead of ourselves.”

On the biggest factors in Ireland’s success:

“The biggest thing is probably the environment that has been created for us. There’s nothing the backroom staff haven’t covered, nutrition, S&C [strength and conditioning], but also in terms of enjoyment. We put pressure on ourselves to make sure we enjoy our time away from rugby. It’s a great environment, we have a great time. But when we step over that white line for rugby, we are all switched on, ready to go.”

On whether this is the biggest game in Ireland’s history:

“Every week feels like the biggest game. This one is no different. We have been preparing for the World Cup for a long time. The mentality every week is it’s a must-win game for us, much like last week. The same goes for this week if we want to continue on in the World Cup.” 

On whether Ireland have improved since the start of their 17-game winning run:

“I definitely believe so. We have said from the start that we try to get better game-on-game and even during this World Cup, we have improved game-on-game. If you go back to the start of the run, I definitely think we’re a better team now.”

On Ian Foster saying this was probably Ireland’s best opportunity to win the RWC:

“That’s been our goal for the last four years. We have put ourselves in a position to win it, but all that matters is Saturday because if we lose, we are obviously out. I genuinely do feel if we get everything right between now and Saturday and then put in an 80-minute performance, we will give ourselves every chance of getting through to the next round and then we’ll go from there.”

On whether the two teams like each other:

“Rugby’s one of those games where when you go on the field, you go to beat the crap out of each other for 80 minutes, and when you step off it, you are very happy to grab a beer with your opposition and enjoy the moment afterwards. It is no different with New Zealand.

“I remember after the last test when we had beaten them, we ran out of beer pretty quickly. But the New Zealand squad were quick to bring in their beer and leave us to continue celebrating. That’s respect too isn’t it? We know we are both going to go at each other for 80 minutes on Saturday, but we’d be very happy to walk into the changing room and have a beer with them, for sure.”

Hugo Keenan, full-back

On the biggest factors in Ireland’s success:

“It’s not just the 33-man squad we have here, it’s also the many players who’ve been unlucky to miss out. With the squad we’ve been building over the last couple of years, everyone has been adding to it, we have great training sessions, it is always competitive, 15 on 15. The environment creates that as well.”

On whether he expects the All Blacks to have last year’s series defeat in their minds:

“They will be hugely motivated and will try to use those learnings from that. But it’s knockout rugby. We’re hugely motivated too, there’s a lot on the line. We are just focusing on what we can control, training well and recovering well.”

On having Mack Hansen and James Lowe back alongside him in the back three, after both went off injured against Scotland:

“It’s brilliant. We finished the game with an interesting back three but the guys who moved there are creative players who slotted in well. But having the two lads back, there is a bit of an X-factor there in the back three and I always enjoy playing with them.”

On New Zealand’s kicking game:

“They’ve definitely got a wide range of kickers with [Richie] Mo’unga at 10 and the Barretts [Jordie and Beauden]. There’s huge variation there, which we’ve seen from their first game against France, so it’s a real challenge for us.”

Andrew Porter, prop

On how they’re feeling physically:

“It was a very high ball-in-play time last week [against Scotland] but we are looked after very well by our coaches. We’re feeling like we’ve just started the tournament. We’re mentally fresh and physically fresh as well coming into this weekend. That’s incredibly positive for the whole team. We’ve been really well looked after.”

On how they have ‘demystified’ the All Blacks:

“Obviously Irish rugby has come such a long way even in the last four years since last World Cup. I remember growing up watching the All Blacks. Jonah Lomu was my favourite player. I had the chance to meet him when I was younger when they came to play in Dublin. They are an incredible team still, they’ll be a huge challenge for us but we can take a lot of confidence from our previous encounters, backing our own ability. We have that belief from previous performances against them.”

On how Ireland’s front row are ‘reinventing’ front-row play:

“I’m not sure it’s just us reinventing anything, it’s the way the game is going. It’s an incredibly fast game and given the ball-in-play time last week was so high, we were forced to get through a lot more work. It’s just how we’ve been conditioned and prepared, especially in our pre-season. Our S&C [strength and conditioning] staff have prepared us incredibly well physically but we’ve also been prepared really well mentally by Gary Keegan, our mental skills coach. It’s about bringing yourself to that dark place in your mind where you know you’re going to have get through lot of work. You take a lot of confidence from the guys either side of you as well to be able to get through so much work.”

On Paul O’Connell’s influence:

“Paulie would be over a lot of things. He will take a lot of his previous experiences of playing and he would know better than a lot of other people what it takes at this level and where you have to go mentally as well as physically. He’s obviously been a huge addition to the squad, not just for the forwards but the backs as well.”