We must keep our feet on the ground, warns Saunders
FORMER Ireland captain Rob Saunders believes the series win in New Zealand will provide the ultimate confidence boost for Andy Farrell’s side – but insists they must keep their feet firmly on the ground as this is not a vintage All Blacks team.
After losing the opening Test 42-19 at Eden Park, Ireland secured their first ever win in New Zealand with a 23-12 triumph at Forsyth Barr Stadium and completed the job last Saturday with a 32-22 win at Sky Stadium to secure their first ever series win against the All Blacks.
But Saunders says this current New Zealand team isn’t the All Blacks of old and is confident Farrell and his coaching staff won’t allow the team to get too carried away.
Saunders said: “I remember when England won the World Cup in 2003, they had gone down to Australia and beat them down there before and a lot of people thought they had peaked but they held their form and won the World Cup.
“As a confidence booster it doesn’t get any better than that a year out from a World Cup. Everything seems to be lining up very nicely, Leinster are doing very well, and the Ireland team are based off them. If you’re ever going to put down a marker, that’s as big a marker as you could possibly want.
“But I’m not sure how good a New Zealand side this is. We’ve got a shrewd management team with Andy Farrell in charge and I’m sure he’ll be keeping their feet on the ground. He’ll be saying: ‘Fantastic to come down here but we’re not playing a vintage All Blacks side, so let’s not get too carried away.’”
Ireland have been guilty of peaking too early before World Cups, with their hoodoo of never getting past a quarter-final still haunting them. Ireland beat the All Blacks for the first time ever in 2016 and followed that result with a memorable 16-9 victory over the holders in 2018 at the Aviva Stadium, a year out from the 2019 World Cup.
That shot Joe Schmidt’s side to number one in the world rankings but when tasked with facing the All Blacks in the 2019 World Cup quarter-final, Ireland once more failed to live up to the occasion and were humbled 46-14.
Saunders, below, who captained Ireland on his debut against France in 1991 and went on to win 12 caps, hopes his nation won’t suffer a sense of déjà vu in France next
year. He said: “Let’s hope we’re not peaking too early. There’s quite a big reliance on Johnny Sexton at the moment, he’s had a bit of a dip in form, but he’s come back with vengeance in the last six months playing very, very well.
“If I was Farrell, I’d be wrapping him in cotton wool for the next 12 months. That’s the only concern, so there will be a huge emphasis on keeping him fit. He’ll play for Leinster but only in big games. But at the same time Ciaran Frawley, who I’ve watched for quite a few years, seems to be coming into a bit of form and can play 10 and 12. Maybe you’ll see Leinster bring him through a bit more given that Sexton will retire after the World Cup.”
Saunders is delighted with Ireland’s current crop of talented players and praises head coach Farrell for changing the team’s gameplan into a more running based expansive one.
“Conor Murray is great at controlling a game, but Ireland have developed a running scrum-half in (Jamison) Gibson-Park that has helped them develop their game from a slightly controlling forward dominated one that grind out results to a much more fluid team,” he added.
“For me, the find of the last two to three years has been Hugo Keenan. He’s a player who was in the shadow of Jordan Larmour but has turned into a fantastic find for them. The centres pick themselves at the moment, there’s massive competition in the back row, Josh van der Flier has really elevated himself into a world class player.
“It’s good to see James Ryan fit again, he was disappointed not to go on the Lions tour and has had his concussion problems but seems to be well rested. Tadhg Beirne has been one of those consistent players that has found a new level to his game now in terms of intensity.”
Ireland’s tour of New Zealand also consisted of two midweek Tests against the Maori All Blacks which ended in a 1-1 split and Saunders is a huge fan of additional Tests on tour, so that the fringe players can be exposed.
He added: “Having been on many tours myself, the thing that creates a successful tour side is not to have the mid weekers versus the Test side. You have to have that competition midweek and a lot of those players in the Maori games put their hands up.
“If you’re going to have a true squad those midweek players have got to feel they’re playing for places on a Saturday, otherwise you tend to have a two-tiered tour where the Test side picks itself and maybe that brings in complacency and the dirt trackers as they’re commonly known become disheartened and drop their form simply because no matter how well or badly they play it makes no difference to selection.”