Ireland’s latest bruising win shows they are the real deal, England’s set-piece strength will be key against Australia, and New Zealand are human after all
When Ireland beat New Zealand on 5 November, and the All Blacks returned the favour two weeks later in Dublin, there was a sense that the two best teams in the world were slugging it out. But in that second game, Ireland were not just beaten, but beaten up, left bruised and bloodied by the brutal All Blacks. They were forced into three early changes, with Johnny Sexton and Robbie Henshaw ruled out of the clash with Australia. Simon Zebo had a knock, and CJ Stander overcame a head injury. On matchday morn, Sean O’Brien joined them with a hip flexor problem, replaced by the eventual man of the match, Josh van der Flier, and the problems did not cease upon kick-off. By half-time, Rob Kearney, Andrew Trimble and Jared Payne (who had started as a risk) were off injured, and impish scrum-half Kieran Marmion was lining up on the right wing, where he ended the game against the All Blacks. Already, injuries had forced the freshman Garry Ringrose out of position to inside centre. Ireland, particularly in the back division, were the walking wounded; by the end of these two games they were shorn of the fly-half, inside and outside centres, full-back, and right wing (as well as two starting openside flankers) who started their autumn campaign in Chicago. And yet, they came through all this to seal a win that made them the first northern hemisphere team since England in 2003 to beat the Springboks, All Blacks and Wallabies in a calendar year. They really do look the real deal. Will Macpherson
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