{"id":252870,"date":"2025-10-31T09:11:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/252870\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T09:11:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:11:18","slug":"ireland-vs-new-zealand-caelan-doris-in-great-nick-andy-farrell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/252870\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland vs New Zealand: Caelan Doris in ‘great nick’ – Andy Farrell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has said captain Caelan Doris is in “great nick” ahead of Saturday’s clash with New Zealand in Chicago.<\/a><\/p>\n

Leinster back-rower Doris is poised to return to action after six months from the bench at Soldier Field, having not played since undergoing surgery on a shoulder issue suffered<\/a> on May 3.<\/p>\n

With the 27-year-old among the replacements, Jack Conan and Ryan Baird start at number eight and blindside flanker respectively, while hooker Dan Sheehan will skipper the side.<\/p>\n

“I suppose early on in the season you need a bit of firepower coming off the bench and looking at Caelan, he’s in great nick,” Farrell told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Caelan Doris will start on the bench against New Zealand in Chicago.\u00a0Ramsey Cardy\/Sportsfile via Getty Images<\/p>\n

“He’s champing at the bit and he’d be disappointed not to start and that’s how you want it. But he’s going to add loads coming off the bench.<\/p>\n

“Set-piece wise, we know how difficult a challenge that’s going to be, it always is against New Zealand. We know that Ryan’s a lovely lineout forward, so we’re expecting things from him in that regard.”<\/p>\n

Farrell is set to take charge of Ireland for the first time in almost a year following his sabbatical with the British and Irish Lions.<\/p>\n

Munster’s Jack Crowley has been given the nod at fly-half, with Leinster’s Sam Prendergast providing back-up.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Crowley was first-choice number 10 during Ireland’s Six Nations title success in 2024 before being pushed out of the side by Prendergast, 22, last season.<\/p>\n

“He deserves it,” Farrell said of Crowley’ selection. “He’s had a great pre-season, come back in, started the season in good form and it’s certainly something that we saw in the first week over here.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had a great camp, getting the lads back together. It certainly shows us where everyone’s at as far as the competition and the respect that they’re trying to gain from one another.<\/p>\n

– Ireland vs. New Zealand: How to watch, kick-off time, latest news<\/a>
– Tom Hamilton: Here’s what England must prove this autumn<\/a>
– Louis Rees-Zammit eager for exciting, ‘weird’ Wales return<\/a><\/p>\n

“You watch all of that and you come up with a decision who deserves to start and, rightly so. Jack has been running the side really well this week, so we’re looking forward to seeing him perform.”<\/p>\n

Ulster’s Stuart McCloskey has been picked ahead of Bundee Aki at inside centre, while Tommy O’Brien and Jamie Osborne will start at right wing and full-back respectively after injuries ruled out Mack Hansen and Hugo Keenan.<\/p>\n

Uncapped Leinster prop Paddy McCarthy — the 22-year-old younger brother of injured lock Joe McCarthy — is among the replacements.<\/p>\n

Ireland memorably recorded a first victory over the All Blacks — winning 40-29 — when the sides previously met in Chicago, in 2016.<\/p>\n

They have since beaten New Zealand a further four times, including an historic 2-1 tour success in 2022, but were defeated in the quarter-finals of the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups and last November in Dublin.<\/p>\n

With two years to go to the 2027 World Cup in Australia, Farrell urged his players to strive for improvement.<\/p>\n

“[The] halfway stage between World Cup cycles is being talked about, so there’s always a reassess where all parts of our game are at and we’ve certainly done that,” said Farrell.<\/p>\n

“It’s up to us to make sure that we keep kicking on because staying where we are isn’t going to be good enough going forward.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has said captain Caelan Doris is in “great nick” ahead of Saturday’s clash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-252870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}