Rob Kearney’s All Blacks verdict: ‘They're scared of Ireland now...’

Retired Ireland full-back believes Scott Robertson’s All Blacks have arrived in Dublin scared of the threat posed next Friday by Andy Farrell’s team. While New Zealand travelled to the Irish capital on Sunday following their narrow 24-22 win over England in London the previous day, Farrell has been plotting with his squad in Portugal ahead of the sold-out Aviva Stadium match.

The All Blacks were 28-24 winners when the teams last clashed 13 months ago in a Rugby World Cup quarter-final in Paris, but Ireland head into this latest fixture having beaten them in five of the last nine encounters, a run stretching back to the seminal 2016 meeting in Chicago.

Kearney was Joe Schmidt’s full-back in that breakthrough 40-29 win and he reckons Ireland’s healthy strike rate will have Robertson and co fearful of what could potentially unfold in Dublin.

Ahead of his punditry work for Virgin Media, the host Autumn Nations Series television broadcaster in Ireland, Kearney on Tuesday appeared on Ireland AM, the station’s breakfast show co-hosted by Tommy Bowe, his former national team teammate.

Beginning his look-ahead to Friday’s match with a reference to Rieko Ioane’s X-rated comments to Jonny Sexton after the full-time whistle in France in October 2023, Kearney said: “A little bit of bad blood. Listen, I think Ireland-New Zealand is always that fixture that everyone looks forward to. There is a huge amount of excitement.

“They are the All Blacks, they will always have that aura about them. But I think they are scared of Ireland now. You know, we have done a job on them the last few years.

“Of course, they will always point to the last two quarter-finals of the World Cup which is what matters, but they will be coming to Dublin a little bit scared of what could potentially happen. And we’ll be scared too because the Irish team are always scared coming up against them.”

Having taken over the captaincy from Peter O’Mahony for last July’s second Test win over South Africa in Durban, Caelan Doris has been named as the Ireland Autumn Nations Series skipper ahead of Wednesday’s 2pm announcement of Farrell's team to take on the All Blacks.

Kearney praised the progress Doris has made in recent years but he wouldn’t agree with Bowe that the No8 is now a shoe-in to go on and be named skipper of the 2025 British and Irish Lions, the team that Farrell will coach on their tour to Australia.

“He has been superb for the last number of years,” said Kearney about Doris. “He has really grown in terms of his own leadership skills. Andy had done a really good job in terms of bringing these young guys through and giving them more responsibility within the team and it’s probably just a natural progression for this team and an honour that Caelan certainly deserves and he will thrive on it.

“A (Lions skipper) shoe-in may be a bit strong but he will definitely be one of the front contenders. You know from down through the years the Lions is very much based on performances during the Six Nations.

“Autumn internationals will have a big impact on that but it’s really what you do individually and as a team during the Six Nations. If he continues to thrive and grow into the role and Ireland do very well in the Six Nations, you’d have to think he will definitely will be a front runner.”

It was after a 2021 stint with Western Force in Super Rugby Pacific when Kearney retired from playing and he now togs out for seven-a-side football once a week with Sexton, who himself called it quits as a rugby player after last year’s World Cup. Is Sexton still an on-pitch shouter?

“He is worse. There is no referees in our game either, he is a law unto his own,” chuckled Kearney, who has Fergus McFadden, another former Ireland back, as a football teammate. “It’s good craic and it’s nice to have a competitive outlet every week where you are fighting for three points.

“We are in a proper league, we’re fourth now in the division, we got promoted last year… and we’re not particularly liked. We’re dirty enough, not dirty but we’re sort of on the line. We rocked down on our first night and Johnny had ordered us all Adidas head to toe gear, the same jerseys, so you can imagine what the other team were like.”