The big poster of the day and the other “final avant la lettre”. Ireland faces New Zealand on Saturday October 14 at the Stade de France, from 9 p.m., in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup. A clash between the two best teams in each hemisphere. A duel between the nation ranked number 1 in the World Rugby rankings and the three-time world champions. A match that could quite simply decide the future winner of the World Cup.
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A revenge to take. The defeat at the same stage of the competition in 2019 against the same All Blacks was obviously not forgotten by the Irish (46-14). Since this meeting, Andy Farrell has taken charge of the Clover XV in 2020 and his men have won three of the four test matches played against New Zealand. Despite this good dynamic, Ireland maintains a negative record against the New Zealanders, with five victories in 35 clashes.
A trouble-free Ireland. Dominators in their group B, the Irish had an immaculate performance, with four victories in as many matches. Third best attack in the group stage, the Irish selection was particularly convincing against South Africa (13-8). Enough to fill up on confidence before this quarter-final.
All Blacks who are gaining strength. Beaten from the outset by the XV of France (27-13), the New Zealanders got off to a bad start to their competition, suffering the first defeat in their history in the group stage of a World Cup. But they then reminded that they were not triple world champions for no reason, crushing Namibia (71-3), Italy (96-17) and Uruguay (73-0). They even finished the group stage with the best attack (253 points scored).