Officially the rankings say otherwise but right now Irish rugby is on top of the world. Even more impressive than Saturday night’s historic first home win over New Zealand in 113 years was the manner of it: tactically brilliant, precision engineered and physically relentless. It is hard to think of a more complete performance by any Ireland side, the stunning rout of the All Blacks in Chicago two years ago included.
As Steve Hansen rightly observed “there’s still a lot of water to go under the bridge before the World Cup” but Japan 2019 already looks set to be a gripping tournament. Perhaps most ominous for the reigning world champions is the belief of Joe Schmidt, the brains behind Ireland’s remarkable rise, that his impressive green machine can improve further. “I thought Rory Best described it pretty well afterwards,” Schmidt said. “He said: ‘We’ll benchmark tonight and say: can we reach that again? Can we make sure we deliver at that level?’ I think you’ve got to keep getting better. If we don’t I know the next time we play the All Blacks they will be.”
In Schmidt’s view, there is absolutely no reason why Ireland cannot up their game even more. “There are always going to be teams coming up and making it tough for you but you know you’re in the ballpark and can foot it with the big boys when you can eke your way through an arm-wrestle like that. We want to be as good as we can be.”
The wider implications could be profound. Not only did it further underline the northern hemisphere’s increasing confidence but the outcome could secure the All Black coaching role for Schmidt from 2020 onwards. The 53-year-old is expected to make an announcement regarding his future with Ireland once the November Tests are done and his coaching CV increasingly speaks for itself.
Seldom do New Zealand receive such a high-class lesson in remorseless commitment and clinical finishing. Peter O’Mahony, Johnny Sexton, Tadhg Furlong and the young James Ryan were all massively influential and Schmidt still has Conor Murray, Sean O’Brien, Robbie Henshaw and Dan Leavy to come back. No All Black side ever give up but twice now in consecutive weeks their forwards have been seriously inconvenienced in tight, claustrophobic Test conditions.
Schmidt’s ability to spot a potential opposition weakness was also evident in Ireland’s all-important 48th-minute try. Not only was it a pre-planned move but the purposeful Jacob Stockdale was still prepared to give it a go, despite having almost presented Kieran Read with a free gift from a less successful chip a few minutes earlier. Ireland, nevertheless, still chose to dust down a classic Schmidt manoeuvre off a lineout, with Sexton switching the ball right to Bundee Aki and the centre releasing the lurking Stockdale down the short side. The All Black cover was wrong-footed as Schmidt had hoped and the prolific Ulster wing’s precise chip and impressive pace completed the heist.
As the 22-year-old Stockdale later revealed none of it was remotely an accident. “I can’t take too much of the credit; it was a training ground move and it paid off massively. I saw Ben Smith had come up on the outside to defend Rory Best and I saw the space in behind him. Richie Murphy [Ireland’s kicking coach] is always talking about how much of a difference chips and grubbers down the line can make, especially if you can get them between the 15 and the touchline.”
Schmidt, it also emerged, had spent the previous week drumming into his players the importance of being proactive at key moments. “That is the message we get from the coaches, that we can play heads-up rugby,” said Stockdale, the Johnny Cash-loving son of a prison chaplain, who has scored 12 tries in only 14 Tests. “They gave us the confidence to back ourselves. The first chip was probably not the best decision I’ve made on a rugby pitch but the second one was a bit better.”
Given he was still in Ulster’s academy when Ireland beat the All Blacks in Chicago, he was as thrilled as anyone at the final whistle. “It means everything. There have been 113 years of guys who have played at Lansdowne Road or the Aviva and failed to beat them. For me to do that on my first attempt is very special.”
New Zealand, to their credit, accepted they had been outfoxed by Schmidt, who spends hours searching for fresh ideas – “I always steal them from someone else” – that can be tailored to his side’s specific needs. “When you score a try like that you just have to say well done,” acknowledged the All Black full-back Smith, equally impressed with the green screen erected by Schmidt’s assistant, Andy Farrell.
Farrell has beaten the men in black twice with Ireland, helped them secure a Six Nations grand slam and helped the British and Irish Lions secure a series draw last year since leaving the Rugby Football Union in the wake of the 2015 World Cup. England, due in Dublin on the opening weekend of the 2019 Six Nations, should ready themselves for the toughest current assignment in world rugby.