One of the biggest rivalries in world rugby will be renewed this Friday even with Ireland playing host to the All Blacks on Friday evening. Darry Worthington previews.
2024 Autumn Nations Series
Ireland v New Zealand
Friday 8 November 2024, 22:10
The Aviva Stadium, Dublin
There’ll be a bit of extra spice to this one following the fallout from Rieko Ioane and Johnny Sexton’s feud, which stems from the two sides’ encounter at last year’s Rugby World Cup.
To Win Match
Ireland 4/10 | Draw 20/1 | New Zealand 22/100
Handicap
Ireland (-6.5) 9/10 | New Zealand (+6.5) 9/10
In fairness, the two sides that will take to the field this Friday evening will look slightly different to the ones that did battle in that famous World Cup quarter-final, with Sexton along with Brodie Rettalick, Aaron Smith and Dane Coles having hung up their boots. Nevertheless, this still should be a spicy old affair.
Both teams have managed to handle the retirement of a few stalwarts rather well but the Irish have definitely enjoyed far better post-World Cup results, taking the Six Nations this year, only going down to arch-rivals England. They then enjoyed a solid tour of South Africa with a dramatic late drop goal in Durban from Ciaran Frawley seeing them level the two-match series.
The Kiwis haven’t been as sharp when it comes to results as they finished the Rugby Championship in second place courtesy of two defeats to South Africa and one to the Argentines. They did manage to beat rivals Australia twice and Argentina once while also claiming three wins over the English and big wins over Fiji and Japan.
Looking ahead at the team news, Ireland are definitely the more settled of the two sides with the All Blacks still testing combinations under Scott Roberston. The Kiwi mentor has lost two of his big guns for Friday’s clash with Codie Taylor and Beauden Barrett ruled out due to head injuries.
The former is likely to be replaced by Hurricanes man Asafa Aumua while Damien McKenzie will come in for the latter. On the Irish side of things, they will also be without one of their key front rowers as Tadgh Furlong has been ruled out with an undisclosed injury he picked up in training.
Verdict: Ireland (-6.5) 9/10
The absence of Barrett will be telling here. While I’ve been keen to see Damien McKenzie excel in the ten jumper at international level, things just haven’t clicked for the Waikato Chiefs playmaker and I reckon he’ll be exposed by this solid Irish defence. As such, I’m on the home side clearing the handicap here.
