NEWSFEEDZONE

Former Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan believes Andy Farrell’s side have genuine prospects of defeating the All Blacks this weekend in Dublin.

“The big takeaway is Ireland now have a bit of confidence,” said O’Sullivan, who coached Ireland for seven years.

“I think we’re in with a chance of beating the All Blacks.

“That’s if the team can take what they did last Saturday and bring it forward to next Saturday and do the same things – albeit under a lot more pressure and with fewer opportunities.

“It was probably the best attacking performance we’ve seen from Ireland for a good few years.”

Ireland pinpointed Japan weaknesses

Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Sportsound Extra Time, O’Sullivan said the most impressive aspect of Ireland’s weekend display was their ability to pinpoint weaknesses in the Japan defence.

“Ireland were very aware when they had extra numbers in attack and when there were fewer Japanese defenders.

“And all the offloads we made were a consequence of making really good decisions about where to attack Japan.

“If you look back over the last couple of years, we’ve not been good at that. We’ve often gone where the traffic was and tried to bully teams.

“It succeeds at times against certain teams but I thought at the weekend that you saw for the first time, us looking back, recognising where the space was and then being very precise with where we went and executing very well.”

O’Sullivan believes Farrell must retain Leinster’s New Zealand-born scrum-half Jamison Gibson Park as the starting number nine in Saturday’s Autumn Test despite the claims of British and Irish Lion Conor Murray, who came on midway through the second half against Japan.

“All the ball was on a silver platter for Gibson-Park because we were so dominant in the contact area but having said that he played very well,” added O’Sullivan.

“I can’t see how Andy Farrell can start Conor Murray because for whatever reason, and I don’t understand it, he has played 40 minutes of rugby since the last Lions Test which is the bones of three months ago.

“He could be woefully undercooked so to put him into a game against the All Blacks would be a high-risk strategy.”

O’Sullivan was enthused by the mobility and “footballing ability” of the Irish pack at the weekend and believes this has the potential to give a new dimension to Farrell’s side.

“Andrew Porter has moved to loose-head and Ronan Kelleher is at the hooking position and when you look at the back five, we have a very mobile pack.

“It’s a kind of pack now that can play ball and mix in with the backs. They can throw passes, they can throw tip-on and loop passes and that opens up a whole new dimension of attack.”

All Blacks will want to ‘fix’ Rome display

O’Sullivan wasn’t impressed with New Zealand’s display in Saturday’s 47-9 win over Italy in Rome as a largely second-strong All Blacks side needed four final-quarter tries to pull away from the Azzurri – but says this could work against the home team in Dublin.

“I think they’ve come to Dublin needing to fix a lot of things they didn’t do last weekend and that’s not good news for Ireland. I would have preferred if they had put 60 or 70 points on Italy and they might have been a bit more relaxed.

“There will be new guys coming in. Brodie Retallick will be on the field again and the Barretts (Beauden and Jordie) will probably appear at 10 and 15.

“This is going to be a locked and loaded team coming to the Aviva. It’s a tough test but it always is to play the All Blacks.

“If we get a lot of things right, we can do it but it’s going to be a whole different bag of spanners than it was last weekend.”

Ireland earned a historic first win over the All Blacks in Chicago in November 2016 then defeated them again in Dublin two years later but New Zealand delivered a 46-14 hammering to the Irish in their last meeting in the 2019 World Cup quarter-final.