According to former All Blacks player James Parsons, Ireland must brace for an unexpected start from New Zealand at the start of Saturday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final, reports RTE.
Andy Farrell’s side are used to early starts in important matches. James Lowe scored within 60 seconds of last week’s win over Scotland and scored early tries in each of the three Tests against the All Blacks last summer.
Ireland is marginal favourites to beat New Zealand and end quarter-final madness at the Stade de France, but Parsons told RTÉ Sport he expects the All Blacks to throw in the chips on Saturday night.
Parsons pointed to the ease felt by Ireland’s centre-back pair of Jamieson Gibson-Park and Jonny Sexton in last week’s win over Scotland, and New Zealand’s defence wants to throw something unexpected at them to keep them honest.
“They [Ireland] take their time to set Jamo [Gibson-Park] for those kicks. Jamo was 11 carries and eight kicks against Scotland, whereas Sexton was five carries and two kicks. We’ve got to not allow them kick or play on their terms,” he said, reports RTE.
“You have to shock them. If you show them one picture early, you can show another picture. And it gets them thinking, and it just gives them a moment of hesitation, that maybe Sexton has to carry, or maybe he throws that pass and it gets intercepted, or maybe you hit that ruck off the kick-off and the ball bobbles out and Jamo can’t kick from a stable base,” he added, reports RTE.
When the two sides met last summer, the series was arguably won and lost in attack, with the Irish group dominating the hosts both at set pieces and on the ground, with Tadhg Beirne wreaking havoc after a breakdown.
“All of those little fights, it may only work once, but if you keep going and keep going and keep going and keep going, it could be that one play. That’s the relentless mindset that the All Blacks will have to bring for 80 minutes. Scotland tacked at 93% [against Ireland] but they were all passive [tackles]. You’re just not stopping that. That’s why Jamo ran 11 times, because people are standing and watching what’s going on,” he added, reports RTE.
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