Learned Irish are no joking matter
Former Chiefs wing James Lowe is the toast of Ireland, or at least Leinster. After the powerful Irish province beat Wasps 52-3 in the European Champions Cup last weekend Leinster’s players formed a queue to pay tribute to the New Zealander.
‘‘He’s brought things from the Chiefs,’’ Leinster and Ireland No 10 Jonathan Sexton told Irish broadcaster RTE.
‘‘He’s taught us how they operated. We’ve adopted bits from what they’ve done. And that’s what we want. We want to learn from them [foreign players].’’
The danger for the All Blacks is not so much what Lowe is passing on but the Irish players’ willingness to learn.
There’s a humility to that attitude that has similarities to the way New Zealand players approach the game. No wonder they have soaked up Joe Schmidt’s teachings like sponges.
These are not star-struck youngsters. Sexton is a decorated British and Irish Lion and at 33 years old might be entitled to think he knows a fair bit.
But Irish rugby has been smart enough to look for help from a range of people whose experiences and knowledge are feeding into the system – former England coach Stuart Lancaster being one of them, Andy Farrell another.
That spells danger for the All Blacks before their test against Ireland on November 18 (NZ time).
Although the test against England the week before is in many ways the bigger occasion because of the commercial aspects and what it might mean for Eddie Jones’ job security, Ireland are by far the bigger threat.
Even before the injury to Billy Vunipola, it was hard to look at recent England squads and say, ‘This is where they can hurt the All Blacks – particularly in the front row, back row and midfield’.
Ireland are the opposite. Even without injured halfback Conor Murray they have the personnel to trouble the All Blacks.
Where do you start? Well, Leinster is a good place because they will provide so many players to the national team.
Outside Sexton the young midfielder Garry Ringrose is developing well at No 13 and they have a nice mix of youth and experience in the back three with Rob Kearney and Jordan Larmour.
But it’s up front where they don’t suffer by comparison
against the All Blacks in the way England do.
James Ryan is an outstanding young lock, Tadhg Furlong is probably the world’s best tighthead and the No 7 Dan Leavy, although he missed the big win against Wasps, looks like a terrific player.
In fact, Ireland have the tools to be exceptional over the ball against the All Blacks when you throw in hooker Rory Best (Ulster) and No 6/lock option Tadhg Beirne (Munster).
This works two ways: not only will they try to put pressure on the speed of the All Blacks’ ball, but they have an ability to hold onto the ball for long periods.
They can deprive the All Blacks of the ball in the way the Springboks did in Pretoria, and they’ll probably back themselves to be more clinical in closing out a game if they get the chance.
This is a big tour for the All Blacks. If Steve Hansen decides to stay on beyond the next World Cup, a win against Schmidt and the second best team in the world would be a handy way to argue for another term.
If they lose, that becomes a bit more complicated.
That task would be much easier if Lowe’s knowledge of the New Zealand game was falling on deaf ears.
However, it appears it isn’t. Ireland are learning all the time and that’s what makes them dangerous.