Rugby World Cup: Ireland’s best yet to come, says Farrell, ahead of vengeful All Blacks showdown

There’s never been anything like it, really. Maybe Italia ‘90, but certainly not in this country’s rugby history, two 50,000-plus Green Army invasions of Paris, the Zombie anthem kicking off another post-match Irish playlist and Saturday night party long into the night.

Once again, looking out on a veritable sea of green at this Rugby World Cup, who are ensconced long before kick-off and fully engaged even for a bloodless Celtic coup such as last Saturday, a few thoughts emerged.

Given how long ago tickets were purchased, the belief in this exceptional Irish team has clearly been growing for two years or more, and with good reason. As the momentum reaches fever pitch, one wonders where do they get the money? And how do they actually get the darned tickets? And where will this beautiful thing end?

There is the potential now for another party next Saturday, as a key consequence of filleting Scotland by 36-14 and sending them homeward to think again was that Andy Farrell’s side earned a quarter-final against New Zealand as opposed to the hosts. That will surely be another home game as against an away game.

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World Cup knock-out stages

Then, of course, there’s the prize of a home semi-final the ensuing Friday night, against the winners of the Wales-Argentina quarter-final next Saturday afternoon in Marseille, with the additional carrot of a fifth successive run-out at Stade de France in the final.

Okay, we’re getting ahead of ourselves, but if not now, with Johnny Sexton at the helm, under this coaching ticket, with this group of players, then when?

Yet, as expected, World Rugby’s premature and lopsided draw has led to two quarter-finals featuring the world’s top four sides, with France hosting South Africa in next Sunday night’s last quarter-final. So two of the world’s best four sides will go home after next weekend, and one of them will be Ireland or New Zealand.

[ Bluffer’s Guide: How to talk the talk after Ireland’s 36-14 win over Scotland ]

Should Ireland come up short against the three-time winners there will be plenty out there who’ll use another quarter-final to proclaim “typical Ireland”. If nothing else, though, while this Irish team bares many of the same personnel from that 46-14 defeat by the All Blacks at the same juncture, that was a good side playing badly. This was a brilliant side maintaining its ranking of first for more than a year with Saturday’s 17th successive win, and the promise of better to come.

“I don’t think, and neither do the team think, that we’ve played our best rugby yet,” maintained Farrell in the aftermath of Saturday’s win. “We know where we want to go and what we’re trying to achieve. Will we ever get there? I don’t know. It’s days like next week that’s coming where we need to find out a little bit more about ourselves. These lads are certainly willing to do that.”

By contrast, Scotland had to face up to the reality of a third pool exit in four World Cups, and head coach Gregor Townsend proclaimed: “The way Irish rugby is set up, they could dominate world rugby for the next five to 10 years.”

Informed of his counterpart’s remarks, Farrell said: “We don’t learn, we just go from day to day and have a realisation of where we’re at and being honest with our feedback and how we treat each other, how we strive to try and improve each other on a daily basis, and I know that sounds cliche or a little bit boring but it’s fact.

“We’ll analyse this game and, yes, it was a good performance but there’s plenty within that that we’ll learn and be honest with and the lads will be the first people that will come up with what we need to get better at and there’s no magic formula, it’s just an appetite to try and be honest and do the right thing by the group.

“What they are getting much better at is grabbing hold of what that is and what that looks like and what that feels like and owning during the week. When you’re owning things together as a coaching staff and a playing group it becomes pretty powerful.”

Another thought from Zombie, if purely a play on words and nothing comparable to what the lyrics sought to highlight, but Ireland are in the All Blacks’ heads like never before after that historic comeback series win in July 2022.

[ Rugby World Cup: All you need to know about Ireland’s opponents in Pool B ]

Some people said that Farrell was mad to take on such a demanding, quasi-Lions tour featuring two matches against the Maoris, and to bring a full-strength squad with Sexton especially. They’re not saying that now.

“We went to New Zealand and Andy told us he’d put us under the most pressure he could find,” said Sexton. “To go on a three-Test tour but also to do the midweek games, it was to test us and to make us learn and we learned so many lessons on that tour to take with us for the Six Nations, to win a Grand Slam, and it’s to put us in this situation to have to play them again.

“They’ve already said it’s one that they want and when they’re hurting and they want to put it right, that’s the biggest challenge in rugby, to try and beat them when they’re in that frame of mind. Two teams will both be under pressure for different reasons and it will be who copes with that the best and who can put their game out there on the biggest day when the pressure is on.”

We’re nearing the point of truth now. Where will this thing end?