Joe Schmidt (Ireland): "We will not be able to have the All Blacks by surprise" – Rugby – Mondial – IRL

Joe Schmidt, Ireland coach: "The strong point of our group is cohesion. Our guys have had very positive experiences together. Several players in this group contributed to writing beautiful pages in the history of Clover. Of course, I remember our first win against the All Blacks at home (16-9 in November 2018), but not only. Many of our players were present in Australia last summer, and also in South Africa the previous summer when we won in Cape Town. It is the accumulation of all these experiences that breeds trust – and it is important to believe in yourself. Against the All Blacks, you can not arrive on the ground and accept their superiority. You have to affirm your intentions and that's what we expect from our 23 players.

What is certain is that we can no longer have them by surprise. They know what to expect and how to tackle a match against us. I do not think we learn more about our defeats. We learn from all our experiences. There are so many variables that come into play in a test match that I can learn from every win, every defeat and every draw. "

Rory Best, captain and hooker of Ireland: "The week passes quickly, so we put a lot of pressure on the players to work a little more than usual off the field. It's hard to judge that before D-Day. I think we're not bad. We'll know more tomorrow (Friday) when we will set up. But in the end, it's Saturday that everything will be played. It will depend on the team that will manage to better execute their game plan and manage the pressure. "

Robbie Henshaw, three-quarter center of Ireland: "It's a huge challenge for us. All the fans are waiting impatiently, like all of us. We are about to face what is perhaps the best team in the world, so we know we will need all the help of our fans in the stadium. We know we can count on them. We are not surprised by their team composition. Lienert-Brown is very strong ball in hand and he is dangerous to the contact, he is very robust and he looks for the offload. It's up to us to do our job by closing the spaces as soon as possible and depriving them of time and space to organize. "