All Blacks acknowledge the World Cup gold standard has been set by Ireland, Boks

The All Blacks have seen this Rugby World Cup’s gold standard and are as aware as anyone that it has not been established by them. not yet, at least.

There was no escaping the talk of Ireland’s historic victory over South Africa from the weekend, which now puts them on a collision course with the New Zealanders in the quarterfinals, as the New Zealanders resumed the normal ebb and flow of this tournament back in their home base of Lyon where they will play their now crucial Pool A match against Italy on Saturday (NZT).

To secure second place in their pool behind hosts France and avoid joining the Wallabies in making an embarrassing and historically significant group-stage departure from this World Cup, the All Blacks must defeat Italy this week at OL Stadium. (Their final match, which is against Uruguay six days later, is almost a formality.)

If they accomplish that, they will almost definitely be drawn to play the Irish, who were so outstanding in defeating the defending champion Boks 13-8 on Saturday night in Paris. The fact that Andy Farrell’s team has defeated the New Zealanders in four of the last six encounters and has just swept them in a series in Aotearoa makes this all the more intriguing.

Nobody in the Kiwi camp will be looking ahead to the now-likely Ireland matchup; assistant coach Scott McLeod used a great analogy about traps to illustrate this point. However, after their Monday training session, they were willing to talk about the caliber of rugby that had been played in the epic match at Stade de France.

Defense coach McLeod expressed his admiration for the game’s ferocity. “The set piece pressure was enormous from both sides, but for as long as it lasted, the defense, mobility, and collisions were enormous. We were all really impressed while watching that game. It is unquestionably the norm.

The All Blacks players, according to McLeod, were more delighted than intimidated by the game, and after they watched the high-caliber match, there was a real “buzz” in the camp.

“That’s the level they want to play at, and it excites us,” he continued. “We believe we can achieve it without a doubt. Last week, when we collided (in Bordeaux), we gave it a short test, and today we trained quickly and vigorously.

Being a defense coach, Mcleod was particularly impressed by both the Irish and the Boks’ commitment to tackle-height discipline in a game that could have gone either way.

That is what most impressed him, he added. The play moved very quickly, yet the collisions were precise and well-defined. It’s bloody difficult to accomplish at that speed, with those collisions, and with corpses flying everywhere, even though there was no infringement in that area. Both teams performed a great job there.

New Zealanders’ loose forward The Ireland triumph, according to Dalton Papalii, sent a wave of enthusiasm through the camp as they watched a match that, in everyone’s opinion, was more exciting than France’s opening-night victory over the New Zealanders.

“Fans love to watch a game like that, with two great teams going at it,” the Blues loosey added. In certain parts of that game, you had to hold your breath for a longer period of time than usual. Since that is how rugby should be played, it might be difficult for players to avoid becoming spectators and being on the edge of your seat while watching these games.

The game played very smoothly. There were no head-high or shoulder-to-head calls. It was rapid ball and clean contact, which are the types of games I enjoy seeing.

And Papalii was not hiding behind the aspirational feelings engendered.

“You have to perform at that level if you want to play with the greatest. This is the competition you want to compete in, as we’ve hinted at throughout the year. Now that we are aware of the standard, we are eager to demonstrate our abilities after the bye week.

“That is a trap right there,” he said, “I have rats and possums on my property, and I know what a trap looks like, what it smells like. We’re taking care of the situation in front of us. We’ll lose if we look too far ahead because Italy is a very strong team.

Wing When asked about a potential quarterfinal, Mark Telea agreed with that as well. I have cockroaches in my home instead of possums and rats. But we’re going to concentrate on Italy alone, as Stormy says about traps. They love to play rugby, and you can tell that. You have to admire them for that. We’re not advancing too quickly.

They fell well short when they tried to predict that Ireland quarterfinal before they had earned the right. When someone attempted to lead McLeod down that rabbit hole, he grinned.

“I have rats and possums on my property and I know what a trap looks like, what it smells like, and that is a trap right there,” he responded. “We’re dealing with what’s in front of us. Italy are a very good side and if we look too far ahead we’ll come undone.”

Wing Mark Telea was aligned on that when he was also asked about a prospective quarterfinal. “I don’t have possums and rats, I’ve got cockroaches at my house. But like Stormy says about traps, we’re just going to focus on Italy. You’ve got to respect them, they love to play rugby and you can see that. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”