1
'I'm not getting rid of the mullet... there is scientific evidence that shows it makes me faster'
By Liam Heagney
Defending champions New Zealand have been emitting a sweetness and light mood from their camp in the lead-up to Saturday’s quarter-final versus Ireland.
It was typified at Friday’s media conference in Tokyo where amongst general queries about the knockout match versus the Irish, assistant coach Ian Foster was quizzed about the team getting a variety of different haircuts during the week.
"To be fair, it is the highlight of the week,” quipped Foster. “They line up six or seven chairs in the team room and then they come in. It's quite a show.
“There have been some mis-cuts I guess - George Bridge for one. He is hoping for some very sunny days to get rid of the white line around the back of his head. Don't look at it, because it will embarrass him.”
There was also some good-natured ribbing of the maverick-looking Jack Goodhue, who is now clean-shaven ahead of the Irish showdown. "He’s taken that stupid moustache off, so that’s a good sign,” suggested Foster.
(Continue reading below...)
Goodhue admitted getting it done hadn’t been easy. "I've had a hard time for that - you can't win in this team,” he said.
However, there was no way he was sitting in the barber’s chair and having a short back and sides job done to his famous mullet. "I'm not getting rid of the mullet. You can ask this every week but it's not going. There is scientific evidence that shows it makes me faster. It was done at Harvard, I think.”
Switching to the rugby, Foster was adamant that the New Zealand which Ireland will encounter will be a very different proposition to the New Zealand that was picked off in Dublin 11 months ago.
"We have changed a lot of things in the last 12 months because we had to due to some performances last year that we're not proud of.
“It's a different group we have got. They’re excited, confident to play and our challenge around the big game is to make sure that we don't dampen that confidence.
"We have to be smart. We are playing a team that likes to suffocate you. We have to respect that, but at the same time we just have to make sure that we go out there and do what we want to do well.”
WATCH: Former Australian international Matt Giteau sits down with RugbyPass in the latest episode of Rugby World Cups Memories
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Ex-Ireland wing brands Six Nations champs 'not that good'
3
Hacjivah Dayimani exits SA following Springbok snub
4
Saracens statement: The outcome of Billy Vunipola investigation
5
Latest Comments
So if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
Go to comments