When the full-time whistle sounded in Soldier Field in 2016 and Ireland broke the 111-year duck against the All Blacks, the dynamic between the teams changed forever.
Over 28 winless games since 1905, Ireland had looked at the charismatic All Black team with a sense of awe and inferiority.
In Chicago the power structure in the relationship changed. The All Black mystique evaporated. Eight years on, with New Zealand due to play Ireland next Friday in the Aviva Stadium, there will be no mention of demigods.
The glamour of the All Black brand, the aura that surrounded the players and team and their pristine record against Ireland, nurtured a fascination – with the throat slitting prematch Haka adding another edgy layer to their warrior image. They were a team to fear. In rugby terms, New Zealand was everything every other side wanted to be.
Stories of how they bred humility into players abounded. A documentary, All or Nothing, was made about them and in Jim Kerr’s book, Legacy, for which he spent time with the team learning about their culture, he wrote of leadership in the All Blacks locker room, when after a match and following the team debrief, the players left the room and the captains stayed behind to clean up.
They stayed to “sweep the sheds,” he wrote and the image of captain and flanker Richie McCaw with a broom in his hand was instantly stamped in people’s heads.
All Black captain McCaw and coach Graham Henry worked towards their culture based on individual character and personal leadership. Their philosophy was “Better People Make Better All Blacks”.
Their mantra was that humble leaders stay grounded, stay productive, and most importantly, gain the respect of their teams. They openly spoke about pride in the black jersey with their cultural mix of players, the Pākehā Maori, Tongans, Fijians, Samoans and Cook Islanders, even suggesting they had a genetic advantage of power and speed.
For over a century the All Blacks had brainwashed Ireland into believing that they were a naturally-born superior team, exotic and out of reach. Then Soldier Field happened.
Between November 2016 and last year in Paris the sides have met nine times. From zero wins in 28 matches, Ireland have now won five of the nine.
Following the historic win in Chicago – for which US president Joe Biden famously congratulated his distant cousin and Irish fullback Rob Kearney because “he beat the hell out of the Black and Tans” – New Zealand came to Dublin the following week and quickly straightened things out, winning 21-9.
Ireland wanted to believe the genie was out of the bottle, but they would have to wait for two years to try to match the original win.
New Zealand arrived in 2018 for an Autumn international in Dublin and Ireland duly backed up Chicago with a 16-9 win. It was game on.
The All Blacks crushed Ireland 46-14 in Tokyo at the 2019 Japanese World Cup but in 2021 Ireland again won an Autumn meeting in Dublin, 29-20. Up to three wins against New Zealand. But Chicago aside, the wins were in the comfort zone of the Aviva.
Then in 2022 Ireland set off on tour to New Zealand for a three-Test series in Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington hoping to make a statement in their first visit to the islands since 2012.
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Under Andy Farrell, Ireland were crushed in the first Test as the All Blacks ran in six tries to win 42-19 at Eden Park. Showing character, Ireland rebounded in Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin with a 23-12 win over the hosts to level the series.
In the deciding match in Wellington Regional Stadium, Ireland rose to the challenge again to beat the All Blacks 32-22 to capture a historic series win in New Zealand.
The most recent result, a 28-24 All Blacks win in Stade de France at the quarter-final stage of last year’s World Cup, is still the hardest defeat of all to take for Ireland.
But in defeat Irish players, including a tearful captain Johnny Sexton, showed how Irish attitudes have hardened and how expectations have sharply risen in just eight years. The All Blacks are no longer supernatural deities. They no longer occupy the minds of Irish players like caped comic book heroes.
Ireland are stronger and the sides now meet more often – 28 games in 111 years compared to what will be 10 games in eight years – which breeds familiarity.
It makes a difference.
In the 1970-1980s it was sometimes 11 years between matches featuring Ireland and New Zealand teams. In 1978 the touring All Blacks beat Ireland 10-6 at Lansdowne Road and did not play again until 1989 when they won 23-6. Going further back the sides did not play between 1935 and 1954. Times change.
Call it what you will – the All Black aura, mojo, presence, spell or mystique – but it is either lost, gone or in low vibrating mode. Next Friday Ireland will welcome them as a charismatic side that still turns heads and burns opponents.
But after that welcome loss of innocence in Soldier Field, a decidedly mortal All Black side will be met in Dublin with more expectation and less fear.
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