{"id":292196,"date":"2023-10-13T20:30:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=292196"},"modified":"2023-10-13T20:30:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T20:30:08","slug":"new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby World Cup: George tells England to relish Fiji clash<\/h3>\n

It is a long, long time since New Zealand entered the World Cup knockout stages as such outsiders. The bookmakers mark the All Blacks down as fourth favourites out of the eight remaining teams which is a reflection both of the exceptional quality of the three nations above them – Ireland, France and South Africa – but also of their own unfamiliar vulnerability.<\/p>\n

As World Cup cycles go, this has been the worst in New Zealand history with their opening-night defeat to France their 11th loss since the last World Cup. All things are relative – they have won 31 Tests in that period too – but the knocks have removed some of the sheen from the brand that likes to market itself as the most successful in international sport.<\/p>\n

The fact that Ireland inflicted three of those defeats – two of them in New Zealand – casts the All Blacks as unlikely underdogs on tomorrow night in Paris. Ian Foster, the New Zealand coach, insists Ireland will face a better All Blacks side than 16 months ago – partly as a result of the \u201cuppercut\u201d Andy Farrell\u2019s side landed on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got smacked and that\u2019s OK – we took our medicine,\u201d said Foster. \u201cWe\u2019ve been rebuilding nicely since then so I like where we\u2019re at. A little bit of adversity never hurt anyone if you use it well.<\/p>\n

Don’t miss… <\/strong> Welsh rugby chief tasked with solving trouser emergency and KFC delivery[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key to any path you walk on is you just own your errors and own your mistakes and get on with it. I believe we\u2019ve done that. We lost a few games but it doesn\u2019t change where we are right now, and we\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Zealand can certainly still score points – putting 96 on Italy in a pool stage demolition underlined their undiminished try-scoring potency. But former All Blacks stand-off Andrew Mehrtens says that evidence was tainted by the Azzurri\u2019s no-show.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s hard to judge because Italy were poor,\u201d said Mehrtens.\u201d Some of that was the All Blacks making Italy look poor but I don’t think the All Blacks would have taken much out of that game.\u201d More relevant would seem to be their most recent games against A-list opposition – a record defeat to the Springboks in their final World Cup warm-up match when they were comprehensively overpowered and the 27-13 loss to France in Paris which ultimately diverted them into Ireland\u2019s path.<\/p>\n

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This will, however, be New Zealand\u2019s 10th World Cup quarter-final and they have only lost one before. On that occasion, in 2007, France exposed their lack of a Plan B in Cardiff in a defeat many traumatised Kiwis preferred to blame on the refereeing of Wayne Barnes.<\/p>\n

The Englishman, coincidentally, is the man in the middle again this weekend so they have a ready-made excuse if it does all go wrong again. Foster, whose chequered tenure will end when his side go out of this tournament, is crossing his fingers that whatever the bookies may think it won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love these big occasions – there\u2019s no tomorrow to them. It just narrows down the focus, so keeping it simple like that is key for us,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone hopes they can go well in the play-offs. I guess we know that we can and we have and we\u2019ve got to rely on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby World Cup: George tells England to relish Fiji clash It is a long, long time since New Zealand entered the World Cup knockout stages […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby-league"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rugby World Cup: George tells England to relish Fiji clash It is a long, long time since New Zealand entered the World Cup knockout stages [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-13T20:30:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/\",\"name\":\"New Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland - Sportstoft\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/New-Zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-Rugby-World-Cup-clash-to-Ireland.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-13T20:30:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-13T20:30:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/New-Zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-Rugby-World-Cup-clash-to-Ireland.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/New-Zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-Rugby-World-Cup-clash-to-Ireland.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":712},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rugby League\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/rugby-league\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"New Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sportstoft\",\"description\":\"sportstoft.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Jeanette\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeanette\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland - Sportstoft","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland - Sportstoft","og_description":"Rugby World Cup: George tells England to relish Fiji clash It is a long, long time since New Zealand entered the World Cup knockout stages [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/","og_site_name":"Sportstoft","article_published_time":"2023-10-13T20:30:08+00:00","author":"Jeanette","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeanette","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/","name":"New Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland - Sportstoft","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/New-Zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-Rugby-World-Cup-clash-to-Ireland.jpg","datePublished":"2023-10-13T20:30:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-13T20:30:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/New-Zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-Rugby-World-Cup-clash-to-Ireland.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/New-Zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-Rugby-World-Cup-clash-to-Ireland.jpg","width":1200,"height":712},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-league\/new-zealand-have-readymade-excuse-if-they-lose-rugby-world-cup-clash-to-ireland\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rugby League","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/rugby-league\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"New Zealand have readymade excuse if they lose Rugby World Cup clash to Ireland"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/","name":"Sportstoft","description":"sportstoft.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Jeanette","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeanette"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}