Ireland's flamboyance and attack-minded play in last Saturday's 60-5 win over Japan has raised expectations going into this weekend's meeting with the All Blacks and, in today's stories, both Gordon D'Arcy and Ronan O'Gara say they were surprised by just how impressive Ireland were. However, now comes the real test. In his column this morning D'Arcy writes that his slight sense of foreboding before the Japan match was completely misplaced but he believes that Ireland must maintain that creativity and flair on Saturday. "Retaining the courage to fully commit to the rugby philosophy and patterns they offered in attack last weekend will be the toughest challenge on Saturday. Everything Ireland did in the first 60 minutes was positive and hopefully the template that the team will build on this weekend and beyond," he writes. Meanwhile, O'Gara says he was surprised by Ireland on Saturday and now believes they can give the All Blacks a real go this weekend. If Ireland are to pull off a surprise win against the three-time world champions they will need Johnny Sexton at his very best and last Saturday's 100-cap man says he is glad that this week he can fully focus on the match in what will be his 14th appearance against the Kiwis.
Moving to soccer and Portugal come to town tomorrow evening for what will be the first of two huge matches at the Aviva Stadium in 48 hours. Undoubtedly the star power of Cristiano Ronaldo ratchets Thursday's match up to a different gear altogether but this morning Malachy Clerkin writes that the appearances of Ronaldo and Sevu Reece for the All Blacks raise uncomfortable questions about a subject sports fans have never really found a way to deal with. One of the Irishmen hoping to tame Ronaldo will be Andrew Omobamidele who continues to make strides both at club and international level since really bursting on the scene earlier this season. The Kildare man's performances have raised comparisons to Paul McGrath in his pomp but Omobamidele himself, given his age, prefers to think more in the mould of Rio Ferdinand. The 2016 European champions look to be fully stacked for Thursday's match with the only slight doubt around Bernardo Silva.
On to GAA and Seán Moran writes this morning that a little respect for referees would go a long way. Following on from Saturday's feature in The Irish Times about the difficulties referees face after making a bad decision on the big stage, he writes this morning that the best thing the GAA could do to recruit new men in black is to punish disrespectful behaviour towards them. "Only recently in one county, an individual who had subjected a referee to serious verbal abuse and received a two-year suspension brazenly walked free, claiming that they weren't a member of the GAA and therefore, couldn't be suspended," he writes.
Elsewhere, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture Food & Marine yesterday released their report into drug testing in Ireland, saying they were happy with the standards practiced by the IHRB but they would urge the Government to consider making the board a semi-state body.
