Despite being the first coach to slay the dragon that is the mighty All Blacks, Joe Schmidt never toured his home country during his reign. You have to go back to Declan Kidney to find our last trip to Aoteroa. It has been a decade since an Irish side headed down to New Zealand’s back yard, and it was a disaster.
0 wins from 3, and despite coming close in Christchurch, Ireland were decimated 42-10 and 60-0 in the first and third tests. The Kidney days were soon to draw to a close, and although no such fears sit above Andy Farrell’s head, some concerns overlap.
Any win, be it against the Maori’s or All Blacks would be historic and uplifting, but a 3-0 series whitewash or any hammering will do serious damage to this Irish contingent. Some say these games are only friendlies, but when it comes to touring New Zealand, those fine margins of competition are magnified. There’s no room for coasting in this end of season tour.
I posted a squad preview a few weeks back and in it I warned of the risks of leaving home your elder statesmen, and costing the squad of leadership and cohesion in favour of rotation and probable losses. Andy Farrell, unsurprisingly, followed suit. His 40 man squad, as seen above, has the proper mix of experience, talent, form and youth.
There are five new caps, and a plethora of new faces from the past two windows. More experienced guys like Keith Earls and Jordan Larmour return, as does the prodigal son Harry Byrne. Captain Johnny Sexton, Cian Healy, Peter O’Mahony, and Conor Murray all toured last time around, as did Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson and Robbie Henshaw with the Lions in 2017.
The squad size is larger for the tour for obvious reasons. It allows room for injuries over a gruelling five game run. Yet that still doesn’t mean wholesale changes game on game for the sake of things. The Irish side that came second in the Six Nations made very few tactical changes game on game, and Farrell’s selection policy will probably roll over this term too. Changes will be made due to injuries and form, but it won’t be forced.
If you want rotation for the sake of it, the two midweek clashes against the Maori All Blacks might be right up your alley. Due to a lack of test matches in recent years, these two games will be highly beneficial for Farrell’s coaching ticket, even if they are logistically challenging. They offer an opportunity to mix and match, with the first game of the tour likely to be used to give players a chance to get up to full fitness too.
The five new caps will be eager to pull on the famous green shirt in game one. Jimmy O’Brien and Ciarán Frawley are in highly competitive positions in the backs, so gametime is a gift, the same can be said for rising stars Cian Prendergast and Joe McCarthy, while Jeremy Loughman might be closest to test action by virtue of position. Returning stars like Mack Hansen, Mike Lowry, Bundee Aki, and Tadhg Beirne could all feature too after lengthy layoffs. Blooding new combinations is as important as the new caps, and I am already excited to see Beirne and McCarthy together should that happen.
The Maori’s will target these games as a chance for a scalp, especially with the likes of TJ Perenara in their ranks. Ireland may give a chance to our own former Maori’s James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park to face the representative side they lined out for. Games involving the Maori selection are consistently a lot of fun, and filled with pride. I was in the stands when they came to Thomond back in 2016, and I hope we see a similarly experimental but impassioned fifteen Irishmen derail the now hosts.
The Maori games are a wonderful sideshow, but they are not the main act on this difficult tour. Three test games against the All Blacks in Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington are this Summer’s litmus test, as Ireland look to improve their preparation for Rugby World Cup 2023. Winning in the rugby capital of the world is almost impossible, winning a test series down there is even closer to impossible. A win of any kind would be a groundbreaking and historic feat for an Irish side, but a 3-0 whitewash would be equally demoralising. The fine margins of sport.
It’s hard to believe it now, but the last Irish touring party anywhere was the 2018 trip to Australia. That incredible year featured a 2-1 series win down under, and Andy Farrell would take that result right now. Ireland lost the opening game that time, and with our first test in the hallowed Eden Park, a similar trend could arise.
Realistically, Ireland’s best chance of a test victory comes in test three in Wellington’s wonderful “Cake Tin”. Yet at that stage, the makeup of the squad and form could be very different. The final test might be our best chance of meaningful rotation, with injuries likely to halt original plans at the end of this long season.
Personally, I can see Ireland winning the series, but I won’t put my money where my mouth is. Ireland no longer fear the All Blacks, but it’s a different kettle of fish playing them in their own backyard. They respect us, but equally won’t want to lose. A win of any kind would be a good result, with a tough schedule and niggly injuries likely to alter Andy Farrell’s selections.
The first game up this Wednesday (8:05am on Sky Sports Arena) against the Maori will be met with calls for wholesale changes, but I don’t see Farrell using it to give time to school kids. A balance will be struck between youth and veterans, with combinations that supplement each other. Add in the need for minutes for a few players like Lions Beirne and Aki, and a gung-ho test match 4 days later, Farrell will need to revert back to his days with the Lions to help him pick this side.
My possible Ireland XV to play the Maori’s:
15. Mike Lowry, 14. Jordan Larmour; 13. James Hume, 12. Bundee Aki; 11. Jimmy O’Brien*; 10. Harry Byrne, 9. Craig Casey.
1. Jeremy Loughman*, 2. Rob Herring, 3. Tom O’Toole; 4. Tadhg Beirne, 5. Joe McCarthy*; 6. Cian Prendergast*, 7. Peter O’Mahony (capt.), 8. Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: 16. Dave Heffernan, 17. Cian Healy, 18. Finlay Bealham, 19. Kieran Treadwell, 20. Nick Timoney, 21. Conor Murray, 22. Joey Carbery, 23. Ciarán Frawley*.
Caolan S Rugby 
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