'A good challenge' - Caelan Doris ready to lead Ireland into testing All Blacks reunion
On Hands On Leader: During Doris Captain's The Aviva At Caelan Thursday Ireland's Run Stadium
Ireland captain Caelan Doris is relishing the back-row battle with the All Blacks in Dublin on Friday night as he looks for his team to take another step forwards in its evolution against world-class opposition.
Doris will captain his country for the third time in his career at a sold-out Aviva Stadium having assumed leadership from Peter O’Mahony for this month’s Autumn Nations Series. It will be Ireland’s first meeting with New Zealand since a 28-24 World Cup quarter-final defeat in Paris 13 months ago and the No.8 is also eager to make amends for what he feels was a below-par individual performance at Stade de France that night.
The Irish back-row trio of Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier and Doris is the same one which faced South Africa last time out when Andy Farrell promoted him to the captaincy as veteran flanker O’Mahony dropped to the bench in Durban for the second Test in July and the 26-year-old led his team to a famous victory against the world champions, having previously been skipper during the Six Nations win against Italy.
Maintaining a 100 per cent captaincy record with a win over the All Blacks would be some coup but Doris acknowledged that the back-row match-up with New Zealand’s Wallace Sititi, Sam Cane and Ardie Savea on Friday night will be a key component in deciding the outcome.
“Yeah, looking at Sititi and obviously Cane was world class against us in the quarter-final, and Savea as well, (Samipeni) Finau off the bench too, Sititi in particular is obviously a young player who has been class in the Rugby Championship and last week again against England,” Doris said following the captain’s run training session at the Aviva on Thursday.
“You love testing yourself against other world class opposition and against very good back rows as well and looking forward to going up against them, the three of us against the three of them will be a good challenge.”
Like head coach Andy Farrell a day earlier, Doris rejected revenge for the World Cup quarter-final loss as a primary motivator for Ireland against the All Blacks on Friday night and even dismissed the disappointment of that defeat as being present in his mind.
“I haven’t thought about it too much, personally. I’ve obviously reflected on that game and I know it wasn’t near one of my best performances or where I can get to. So it’s all part of the journey, the evolution of a player and a person and I’m sure that game, some of the lessons from it will lead to further development and growth for me and I’m looking forward to putting that into action.”
Asked what world number one-ranked Ireland were looking to get out of a game in which it is protecting a 19-game winning home winning streak in Dublin, Doris said: “A performance.
“I think the first half against South Africa in the second Test was pretty good, and elements in the first Test as well, but there wasn’t a complete performance. Our discipline in the second half (of the first Test, a 27-20 defeat at Loftus Versfeld) let us down quite a bit.
“It’s about pushing the limits of where this group can go and continuing to improve together and it’s very much so been the theme of the last few days.”
Farrell on Wednesday named a side showing five changes from that second-Test win over the Springboks at Kings Park and a starting XV of whom 13 have experienced victory over the All Blacks at least once in their Test careers since Ireland’s first win in 111 years in Chicago in 2016.
“When you break new ground in terms of getting a win against them you know you can do it and there is more belief off the back of that,” Doris said. “It's not this thing that you've never gotten near or beaten before. Of course there is still massive respect because you have to respect them given how good they are but there's also more belief, definitely.”