Ireland are excited to face World Cup 'standard bearers' New Zealand and come up against a familiar face in their former head coach Joe Schmidt, says Simon Easterby.
Ireland are excited to face World Cup "standard bearers" New Zealand and come up against a familiar face in Joe Schmidt, says Simon Easterby.
"Joe's influence certainly has increased over the past 12 months," said Ireland assistant coach Easterby."New Zealand have always turned up for World Cups and we've seen with the way they've dealt with a little bit of adversity in the pre-season game against South Africa and the game against France could've gone either way."
Andy Farrell's Ireland are considered favourites by many given their 17-match winning run but New Zealand scored 25 tries in their last two Pool A matches and appear to be peaking just in time for the latest chapter of their rivalry with the Six Nations champions. "Whatever you want to say about that series, it would have hurt them to lose at home against us," added Easterby.
"What happened last summer is still in the back of their minds and certainly it's human nature that it would be the case.
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