Ireland celebrate their try during 2022 Steinlager Series match 3 between the New Zealand All Blacks and Ireland at Sky Stadium in Wellington. Photo: Aaron Gillions / www.photosport.nz
The All Blacks are still hurting from their historic home series loss to Ireland last year and they're determined to get revenge by beating the World's No.1 team in this weekend's World Cup quarter-finals.
However, it will be no easy feat for an All Blacks side who will come up against a red hot team, buoyed by the support of what's likely to be a sea of Irish fans in Paris.
It had been 24 years since the All Blacks were beaten twice in a row at home before Ireland did just that in 2022 to claim their first ever series win over New Zealand.
The pain of that history making defeat is still raw for plenty of the current All Blacks, including back Beauden Barrett.
"We learnt a lot during that series, it was a challenging time, some of the most challenging times we've faced as an All Black team, and personally, losing the series in our back yard.
"What we know is the beast that Ireland are and if you allow them to dictate up front and play the way they want to, they're a tough team to stop.
"There are a lot of us who are pretty keen to get one up on them and still we're hurting from what happened last year," Barrett said.
Hooker Dane Coles agrees and said the All Blacks were desperate to atone.
"The All Blacks were the benchmark for a long time so to come up short in your home country it was more than a kick in the guts. Every time you lose in the All Black jersey it does leave a little scar so we try and get back to the top and they've been the benchmark for a few years now so there's no shying away from that," Coles said.
Photo: Photosport / Andrew Cornaga
While the All Blacks will never forget how it felt to be beaten at home, coach Ian Foster believes the series loss to Ireland has shaped the way his side now plays.
"We realised there was a couple of areas that our benchmark wasn't high enough and we just realised we had to make a bit of a step shift change in a couple of areas to get what we needed to. You know you can't give top teams a couple of line-out drive tries against you for example per game and expect to come out and beat them," Foster said.
Ireland have won 17 tests in a row, a team record, are the World's No.1 ranked side and beat the All Blacks the last two times they played.
Foster knows the size of the task facing his team.
"They're playing well, they've got their game pretty well organised and well sorted, on a massive winning streak, obviously got a clear goal to create history for themselves so they'll be confident and I kind of love that challenge."
Foster said revenge will be a strong motivator for many All Blacks players, but he says history will count for little come Sunday morning in Paris.
"They believed when they came to New Zealand they said at the time is that they felt they took something from us and it was a massive achievement for them to win on New Zealand soil which it was but World Cups, it's all about this game isn't it."
Dane Coles Photo: PhotoSport
Some history is on the All Blacks side, with Ireland having never made it past the quarter-finals at a World Cup, and it was New Zealand who sent them packing in 2019.
However, Ireland coach Andy Farrell believes his team are yet to hit their best form at this tournament, a statement which could send shivers down the spines of All Blacks fans already nervous about their side's chances of progressing.
Farrell said players were determined to become the first Ireland team to reach the tournament's final four.
"I don't think and neither do the team think that we've played our best rugby yet. We know where we want to go and what we're trying to achieve, it's days like next week that's coming where we need to find out a little bit more about ourselves," Farrell said.
Alongside hosts France, Ireland are the bookies favourites to win the World Cup.
But Foster isn't fazed.
"Honestly it doesn't really interest me I'm not big on claiming underdogs or claiming favourites, I know we believe," Foster said.
While belief can go a long way, anything less than a near perfect performance from the All Blacks on Sunday morning will likely result in them heading home to Aotearoa without the trophy they so deeply desire.
