{"id":107782,"date":"2025-10-29T22:22:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/107782\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T22:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:22:14","slug":"ireland-play-like-theyre-at-a-training-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/107782\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland play like they&#8217;re at a training session"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-All Blacks fly-half Stephen Donald believes that Ireland can look so slick in games that it almost seems as if you are watching their training session.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand will face Andy Farrell\u2019s men in Chicago this weekend, looking to gain revenge for their 2016 loss in the same city.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/team\/new-zealand\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">All Blacks<\/a> perhaps have the edge, given that they only recently finished their Rugby Championship campaign, but Donald certainly has a huge amount of respect for the Irish.<\/p>\n<p>Since that success at Soldier Field nine years ago \u2013 their first ever win over the All Blacks \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/team\/ireland\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ireland<\/a> have sealed four more victories over the All Blacks.<\/p>\n<p>That includes claiming a 2-1 series victory in New Zealand in 2022 but, since then, the Kiwis have emerged triumphant in the following two encounters.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland\u2019s lack of preparation<\/p>\n<p>They will be favourites for Saturday\u2019s match with Ireland\u2019s players having little game time, even at provincial level, ahead of their duel with Scott Robertson\u2019s outfit.<\/p>\n<p>It may therefore be difficult for them to be as fluid as they can be but, as Donald states, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/andy-farrell\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Farrell\u2019s<\/a> side are a joy to watch when they get it right.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/all-blacks-great-expresses-doubt-about-unsettled-ireland-after-andy-farrells-unusual-lions-decisions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">All Blacks great expresses doubt about \u2018unsettled\u2019 Ireland after Andy Farrell\u2019s \u2018unusual\u2019 Lions decisions<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Irish are a team that gel so well. They\u2019re all in sync and when you\u2019re talking about being in sync and being a team, the thing that Ireland have done so well, previously with Joe Schmidt and now with Farrell, over the last few years is they\u2019ve all got their jobs to do and they nail it all perfectly,\u201d the 2011 Rugby World Cup hero said on The Aftermatch with Kirst and Beav.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Ireland is absolutely humming, they are doing all of that. They are all in sync, the forwards are doing what they need to do and people are at the right rucks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat this allows is for their game to flow. If you sit back and watch Ireland, sometimes they are so good to watch because it is so clinical and methodical but done at pace. That\u2019s because everyone knows their role and everyone is in the right spot, and they can just roll through it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt times when you\u2019re watching, when they are absolutely humming, it feels like you might have slipped into an Irish training session, it looks that good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe challenge for the All Blacks is to take them out of it and to take them out of their system and their rhythm which, as I said, at times it feels like they\u2019re at a training session.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/ardie-savea-where-the-all-blacks-have-to-front-up-in-order-to-beat-hard-and-direct-ireland\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ardie Savea: Where the All Blacks have to \u2018front up\u2019 in order to beat \u2018hard and direct\u2019 Ireland<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ex-All Blacks fly-half Stephen Donald believes that Ireland can look so slick in games that it almost seems&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1463,1464,8019,111,43,27338,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-107782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-home-page","10":"tag-internationals","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-stephen-donald","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}