Schmidt: I had visions of 2013 towards the end – but we knew we had to hang in there
DELIGHTED Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said last night’s 16-9 victory over New Zealand at a delirious Lansdowne Road was ‘a special moment’ and that he and his players were determined to ‘deliver for the people’.
It was billed as the meeting of the top two teams in the world and Schmidt’s men won it comprehensively, scoring the game’s only try through Jacob Stockdale to extend their record run of home wins to 11.
‘We tried to go out and put out our best performance possible,’ said Schmidt, who admitted he feared the All Blacks would produce a late surge as they did to deny Ireland in Lansdowne five years ago.
‘There were some really special moments, we wanted to deliver for the people and I think we did that. But it was a heck of a battle, I had some visions of 2013 when they were working their way back up there at the end.
‘I felt maybe we could have kept the ball at the end but it wasn’t the worst thing to stay close to the touchline and try to keep them pinned in their 22,’ he added.
‘It was great the way the scrum and lineout went, the work Greg Feek and Simon Easterby did in the build-up was superb.’
However, despite Ireland comprehensively beating the world’s top-ranked team, Schmidt was not prepared to make any bold predictions about next year’s World Cup.
‘We probably don’t look that far ahead,’ he said. ‘It’s one win in one window in our backyard. We talked about how this is our home and how we haven’t been beaten here in two years and how we want to take some pride in that.
‘I was delighted with the way Kieran Marmion, Luke McGrath played and Josh van der Flier, he just kept going.’
Ireland captain Rory Best hailed the Lansdowne Road atmosphere as the catalyst for last night’s stunning win over the world champions.
Soaking up the joyous scenes, Best said: ‘I think the atmosphere here just sums it up. It was a massive lift for us.
‘When we came out here and we heard this noise it couldn’t not motivate you. We were playing the best team in the world.
‘We knew it was going to take a special performance and we started well. And everyone in this stadium gave us a big lift whenever we needed it.
‘We knew everyone had been wanting to talk about this game for months. We were trying to blank it out, and obviously this week it was all we had to focus on and, look, they’re a wonderful team. We had to hang on at the end, but it shows the character we have. We emptied the bench, we had everyone one the pitch and everyone dug deep.
‘We forced a mistake at the end, and when you talk about learning from your mistakes we were in a similar position in 2013 and we’ve made massive step forward since then.
‘In ’13 we didn’t score in the second-half, in Chicago we did and tonight we did. We knew we had to score a try. In that second game in 2016 we didn’t score a try we just scored penalties and with a team like New Zealand, if you sit and wait for them, you’re going to be in trouble.’