I hope to be entertained by an Irish side that front up and play the Irish way: counter-attack, an offloading game and massive pressure from first phase

A DUCK was getting ready to cross the road when a chicken ambled up to him. “What are you up to?” asks the chicken. “I’m going to cross the road,” the duck replies. “I wouldn’t advise that,” pleads the chicken. “Why?” “Cause you’ll never hear the end of it!”

Munster proved in 1978 that even a single defeat is hard to take and Richie McCaw is not liable to add to that famous loss. Add in that this is Graham Henry’s 100th All Black Test in charge and you begin to sense the history behind this jersey and this particular fixture.

But what about McCaw? Have you heard about the new low fat communion bread? It’s called “I can’t believe it’s not Jesus”. With a leader like McCaw in their ranks the remainder must be mere mortals.

Don't be fooled, before reading any further check out the All Blacks tricks and skills at training, youtube.com/watch?v=d6o7G4gPB8M.

Impressed?

For some time now I’ve maintained Brad Thorn is the most important player in world rugby, but Sonny Bill Williams will soon earn that mantle. My godson Cillian, who plays under-10s in Old Crescent, has recently changed his name by deed poll to Sonny Bill.

It is a travesty that neither will start tomorrow as we can learn much from them.

Not since Shane Horgan, at his best, has an Irish player existed with something like Sonny Bill’s ability to dance through contact, ball in one hand like a shopkeeper giving out sweets. Williams is on the bench, but will throw huge stress on the Irish midfield when he arrives.

He will force the double team.

How many countries could possibly leave Sonny Bill Williams on the bench?

On the plus side, it is a soft starting All Black midfield! On the negative side, it will require a total Irish readjustment to the new challenge to be faced.

Regardless of Williams’ brilliant offloads and mesmerising, one-hand carries, Conrad Smith is the only outside centre to match Brian O’Driscoll’s flair and variety of play.

Williams, however, does make an interesting point regarding his back-door off-loads. He hopes his support runners can catch the ball, acknowledging their role in his play.

This is where these Irish players at provincial level are weekly running, but it appears at the next level the same players don’t run the same support lines.

These support lines are built on go-forward, possession rugby. Dan Carter expects quick ball and from it the support runners flow.

The Irish deploy several defences in which O’Driscoll has the freedom to step out of the line. Watch the deep switches from the All Black wingers.

They have a nasty habit of drawing the outside centre forward with a violent switch from Smith to his winger running into O’Driscoll’s weak shoulder. Gordon D’Arcy must stop this.

But the Irish front five must stop the flow of ball to Carter (and Smith). England lost, but they did slow the flow, which drew Carter into tap kicks and rushing, a ploy that would be wise to repeat. Pace is Carter’s bedfellow, but without it he can become impatient.

Where can Ireland win the game? Front five is where future success and failure lie, first in slowing the Blacks down. However, we lack ball-carriers there, which will prove tiring as I assume, once again, the front five will elect for breakdown destruction and counter-rucks.

England’s second try stayed on the tram tracks from inside their 22. It was scored by hooker Dylan Hartley and the turnover was all forwards. Seán Cronin is the only real power ball-carrier in the front five and he’s on the bench. A lot lies on Cian Healy’s shoulders to support his backrow, scrummage first and carry second.

The Ireland selection is a conservative one from Declan Kidney, who has been forced into reselecting the finishing frontrow: good call. In sticking with the Leinster half-back pair he has resisted the speed of Peter Stringer’s pass for Eoin Reddan’s overall balance. Ronan O’Gara received much kudos for his role in the “comeback” against the Springboks, but both Stringer and Tom Court deserve enormous credit for their role.

Court managed to settle the scrum from tighthead, and Stringer gave serious pace to the ball, saving vital seconds in the Irish midfield.

As there are no other “new” boys in the side, I’m a tad disbelieving that Mick O’Driscoll (32) is back. No disrespect to him, but there is no hint of a risk from Kidney and Devon Toner (24) and Seán O’Brien (23) would benefit enormously from the opportunity to start.

O’Gara v Sexton? It is almost impossible to know who represents the best chance of winning any given match, but this argument goes beyond any given match. We haven’t beaten the All Blacks and have many hurdles in front of us, so we need to evolve and Sexton has youth and gain line on his side.

Conservatism is not going to win us tomorrow’s match. I firmly believe our best players are as good as theirs, but they simply have too many of them. Ask yourself how many have added real value to their Northern Hemisphere clubs when out of the All Black fold?

Finally, I attend matches to be entertained. Soaked to the skin last Tuesday in Thomond Park, I was more than entertained by Duncan Williams and co.

Tomorrow I hope to be entertained by an Ireland side that front up and play the Irish way, a way that involves a counter-attack, an offloading game and massive pressure from first phase. If they achieve this then the score doesn’t matter.

PS: On the off chance I don’t get to say this again, best of luck to the All Blacks in the World Cup.

Don’t forget the duck from above, no pressure crossing that road!