Irish win over All Blacks a “blessing and a curse”

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has cautioned Ireland after their heroic win over the All Blacks, that their World Cup preparation may have been made more difficult.

Ireland recorded their first win over the All Blacks in Dublin last weekend (16-19), and previously had won only once, in Chicago in 2016 (40-29), with the All Blacks winning 28 other encounters.

Erasmus, who’s side also toppled the All Blacks this year, warned that the victory comes as both a blessing and a curse.

If you beat New Zealand it gives you a lot of confidence, but sometimes the problem is what does that do to the opposition you are playing next?”

“There is a lot of expectation on you when you beat the All Blacks. Everyone then expects you to automatically beat everyone else from then onwards. People start coming for you and start to analyse you really hard to beat you, because you’ve just beaten New Zealand.

However the positives do lie in the belief that the victory would have given the Irish, said Erasmus.

“It was a proper, proper Test match, very intense, and I thought Ireland could do it, because Joe (Schmidt) is a great coach and the Irish players are really professional. New Zealand has been going through a little bit of a dip but, knowing New Zealand, they will pull the ropes together and get it right before the World Cup.”