34 Sports The Auckland Times | Issue 185| October 15, 2019

Rugby World Cup: Ireland can beat All Blacks says Andy Farrell
World Cup. But Farrell said
there was no reason they
could not break through this
time, denying they felt the
"weight of history" on their
shoulders.
"Not at all," he said.
"Honestly, it wouldn't be
anyone's thinking within the
management, never mind the
playing group. Not for one
second. Because there's a job
to do and we'll give it our
best shot."
seven tries against Samoa
in Fukuoka on Saturday.
They secured the bonus
point before half time thanks
to tries from Rory Best,
Tadhg Furlong and two from
Johnny Sexton. And despite
Bundee Aki's red card
Jordan Larmour, CJ Stander
and Andrew Conway added
further scores after the
break.
Schmidt said Ireland were
in a better place heading
when they lost a host of key
players following a bruising
pool encounter with France.
Despite the loss of Aki to
a three-week ban, Ireland
start the biggest week in
their history in a good place.
Asked how Ireland could
beat the All Blacks, Farrell
smiled. "You've got to score
points," he said.
"You've got to take your
game to them and I think
we've been able to do it in

I
reland's defence coach
Andy Farrell says the
All Blacks won't relish
playing his side in the
quarter-finals in Tokyo next
weekend.
The All Blacks are the
world's No 1 ranked team
and back-to-back world
champions. And they are
odds-on to make it a hat-
trick of titles in three weeks'
time. But Ireland have
beaten them twice in their
past three encounters.
Farrell is not alone in
thinking that may be at the
back of their minds before
Saturday.
Ireland must face Steve
Hansen's team after Japan
came through a dramatic
test against Scotland in
Yokohama on Sunday to
qualify as Pool A winners.
But Farrell, who takes
over from Joe Schmidt as
Ireland head coach after
the tournament, said his
team had nothing to fear
Ireland ended the group into the knockout stages this the past."
and would be better for stages on a high, running in time than four years ago,
beating Samoa 47-5 on
Saturday, rather than having
a weekend off as the All
Blacks did.
"I certainly think so," he
said when asked whether
Ireland would benefit from
the run-out. "We'd like to
think that nobody thinks it's
nice playing against Ireland.
We'll certainly be hard to
beat."
Ireland have never made
it past the last eight at a