How Chicago dispelled the aura of the All Blacks

Ireland’s historic first win over New Zealand was a landmark victory, writes Tom Cary

It was the day that changed the dynamic between Ireland and the All Blacks forever. The day Joe Schmidt’s men lifted a 111-year curse. And a major reason why they will face New Zealand at the Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo tomorrow with genuine belief.

Soldier Field, Chicago, Nov 5, 2016. Until that day, Ireland had played the All Blacks 28 times in more than a century and had never won. It was the day that all changed. “With the record we had against New Zealand up to that point, there was always that doubt, that feeling, how do you get past that roadblock that is beating the All Blacks?”

The words belong to Conor Murray. The Munster scrum-half is one of the longest-standing members of the squad. He was part of the Ireland team stuffed 60-0 by the All Blacks in Hamilton in 2012, the year before Schmidt took over. He was in Ireland teams who had suffered agonising last-gasp defeats, such as the one the following autumn when Ryan Crotty scored a heartbreaker in Dublin in the final minute.

But Murray recalls there was a sense in the camp that week that things might be different. “That day in Chicago, we were excited, confidence levels were up.”

History had already been made that week in the Windy City, with the Chicago Cubs ending a drought almost as long as Ireland’s by winning baseball’s World Series after 108 years. Millions of fans turned out for the victory parade the night before the rugby.

It was a charged atmosphere for an Ireland team still grieving following the sudden death of former Ireland player, and Munster head coach, Anthony “Axel” Foley a few weeks earlier. “He played a massive part in that day,” Murray admits. New Zealand, for their part, were coming to the end of a long season. Locks Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock were injured, and there was a sense that they might be underestimating Ireland when they named flanker Jerome Kaino in the second row.

“I remember the All Blacks did an extra event for a sponsor on the Friday,” recalls Murray Kinsella, a former Munster youth player now reporting for the42.ie. “We commented at the time, ‘Why are they doing that?’ It didn’t feel right. I remember, too, Ardie Savea couldn’t name an Irish player.

“Obviously that’s not an indication that they were going to lose – the All Blacks like to focus on

‘It gave us a big lift before we went out and laid it all on the line. It pushed us even further’

themselves – but it was something Ireland definitely picked up on.”

The day of the game dawned with 62,000 mostly Irish fans greeting the teams as they strode out on to Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears NFL team.

Ireland had a tribute to Foley planned, responding to the haka by adopting a figure-of-eight formation in honour of his old shirt number, with the Munster players at the front. “It was a goosebumps moment,” recalls Kinsella. “Spectacular. I’ve never seen anything like it. There have been loads of special responses to the haka. But that was a powerful moment.”

Murray later recalled that it took a while for the crowd to realise what was going on, but once they did, he could feel the energy spreading through them. “It gave us a big lift right before we went out and laid it all on the line. It pushed us even further.”

Ireland came out firing, racing into a 25-8 lead at half-time with New Zealand’s line-out coming under serious pressure. Ireland’s first try, scored by Jordi Murphy, came from a rolling maul. As did two others that day.

In total, Ireland scored five tries in a 40-29 victory, the last of which came from Robbie Henshaw after New Zealand had worked their way back from 30-8 down to 33-29 with a quarter of an hour to play.

In the past, Irish teams had folded when New Zealand came back at them. The fact that they extended their lead this time, continuing to play attacking rugby to the death, was a significant moment in their shared history.

For New Zealand, there was doubt where once there had been certainty. Sean Fitzpatrick, the All Blacks legend, admits he would not have wanted to have been in the team who lost. “I was sitting with Richie Mccaw,” he says, “and when it was over we looked at each other and said, ‘Thank God I wasn’t playing’ – because that team will be remembered forever as the side who lost to Ireland.”

For Ireland, the All Blacks’ aura was gone. Although New Zealand would win a brutal encounter in Dublin a couple of weeks later, Ireland’s mindset had changed.

“Just getting past that ‘roadblock’, that’s how I’d describe it,” Murray says. “It’s a massive boost of confidence. It shows you they’re human. To go on and do it again with the Lions in New Zealand [in 2017] and then, obviously, for the majority of the squad to do it again [last] November, it just gives you massive self-belief where before you might have been restricted by the record that was there.”