| Venue: Sky Stadium, Wellington Date: Saturday, 16 July Kick-off: 08:05 BST |
| Coverage: Live text commentary available on the BBC Sport app and website. |
Andy Farrell has asked his Ireland team to bring “chaos to” their series decider against New Zealand at Wellington on Saturday.
Ireland seeks a record win in New Zealand’s series after defeating the All Blacks last Thursday in Dunedin.
Ireland have won four out of seven of their previous seven meetings, but have never defeated the All Blacks in consecutive Tests.
Farrell stated that “We know what history says about all of this.”
“This is exactly what we want.”
Last Saturday’s series ended in a tie between Ireland and New Zealand thanks to a lack of discipline from the Kiwis.
Ian Foster, All Blacks Head Coach, has had four opportunities to make his starting XV. Experienced forwards Sam Whitelock (Nepo Laulala) and dangerous backs Will Jordan are all back.
Farrell stated, “They’ll hurt, but we know they bounce back unbelievably strongly, we’ve played with them enough times now, to understand what’s coming,”
“They have a plan. It’s up to us that we add some chaos to that plan. We need to doubt the All Blacks.
Ireland: “Everything must improve”
They are keen to emphasize their belief that they can make significant improvements after last weekend’s historic win in Ireland.
In fact, they were guilty inaccuracy during the first half of their dominance over territory and possession.
New Zealand was temporarily reduced to 13 men twice, but Ireland failed to capitalize on either occasion due to handling errors and penalties that hampered promising attacks.
“What can be improved?” “Everything really,” stated James Lowe.
“Our shape in attack, speed to set up, defence, our kicking, all of these must be right again.
“We must put them under as much pressure and pressure as possible. All the things that make a difference in a rugby game are kick pressure, high ball and ruck.
Lowe was born and raised in New Zealand. He played for the Maori All Blacks, before joining Leinster as a 2017 player. This move allowed him to become eligible for Ireland in 2017, three years after he had completed the residency rule.
He has played against his country three times, winning twice and now having the chance to be part of an unprecedented series win for Ireland in New Zealand.
Lowe described his career path as “I don’t think you would have the ability to script that,”
“It was always my dream that I would play international rugby. It was an incredible opportunity to be given the chance in Ireland. Then, to tour New Zealand with the potential for a game-three decider is an amazing opportunity that we will probably never have again.
“You don’t get to New Zealand very often and you don’t get knocked over New Zealand often so it would be huge if we could go into the summer having beat New Zealand twice in succession.
“If we could have heard that at the beginning of the tour, then we would have taken your hand for it.”
