Having been an assistant under incoming All Blacks coach Scott Robertson at the Crusaders, and now leading serial Champions Cup winners La Rochelle, Ronan O’Gara has a unique and valuable perspective on the international rugby landscape.
Applying that perspective to the Rugby World Cup, the 128-cap Ireland legend says the All Blacks’ recent struggles don’t condemn the team to an early exit, but there are improvements to be made.
After debut losses to Argentina and a first-series loss to Ireland on home soil, the All Blacks started 2022 in strong form, producing a clean sweep of The Rugby Championship.
Just a month later though, the team were back on the wrong side of history, suffering their worst-ever defeat at the hands of the Springboks before falling to their first-ever pool stage Rugby World Cup loss to France.
The defeats of 2021 and 2022 would be forgiven by many though if coach Ian Foster’s team were to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in Paris.
“I think there’s an asterisk on what you said though,” O’Gara told The Breakdown when the losses were pointed out to him in the context of the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup campaign.
“Because the great thing about New Zealand is they’ll be judged on their Rugby World Cup, and that’s what the best teams do and they accept that pressure. And to use the great Dan Carter’s ‘pressure is a privilege’, we’ll see now.”
The former flyhalf said New Zealand’s rugby history speaks for itself and provides an innate advantage when looking to tackle the world’s best at the World Cup.
The world’s top-ranked side, Ireland, on the other hand, are forging their path into new territory if they are to prevail past the quarter-final stages.
O’Gara said during his three World Cups, while the opportunity presented itself, getting rid of Ireland’s quarter-final “hoodoo” proved too difficult of a challenge to overcome.
He referred to 2011’s quarter-final against Wales as the game that got away.
“Sometimes you don’t realise how good the opportunity in front of your nose is and you don’t take it, and it’s four years gone and you’re back to the drawing board. But that’s sport, that’s why we love it.”
With Ireland’s win over the Springboks furthering their case as World Cup favourites, O’Gara complimented their leaders but again highlighted the fact that “pressure becomes different when it’s knockout footy” so history matters.
“Ireland don’t know where the semi-final winning line is, the final winning line is. This is in the DNA of all New Zealand teams and it’s something that you cannot underestimate.
“So, are they waiting in the long grass? Yeah, but they need to be because their game needs to be a little bit better.
“I think where teams have probably gone beyond them is on the defensive side. Their attack has always been top notch but I think defensively it seems like they’re still defending the man, which nowadays, with teams’ capacity to retain the ball, is you keep pushing them towards the sideline, the opposition is going to have too much possession and be able to fire too many shots and they probably have to defend a lot of players with X-factor.
“I think if they’re very aggressive with their defence, they could surprise people and go all the way.”
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