New Zealand captain Scott Barrett mentioned his facet predict an “intense” Test in opposition to Ireland in Dublin on Friday evening because the All Blacks covet Ireland’s world primary rating.

Kick-off is at 22:10 (SA time).

New Zealand can return to the highest of the rankings for the primary time since 2019 in the event that they beat the Irish on Friday and world champions South Africa lose to Scotland on Sunday.

Fierce rivalry

The hosts and the guests have developed a fierce rivalry ever for the reason that Irish ended a 111-year wait by beating the All Blacks in Soldier Field, Chicago, in 2016.

Ireland maintain the sting over their opponents 5-4 – together with the US victory – of their final 9 conferences.

Those wins embody a historic 2-1 sequence win for Ireland in New Zealand in 2022 while the All Blacks ended legend Johnny Sexton’s stellar profession beating the Irish 28-24 within the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals final yr.

The All Blacks activity is harder nonetheless because the Irish are on a 19-match unbeaten run at dwelling.

“It’s going to be intense,” mentioned Barrett after coaching on Thursday.

“Ireland have been proper up there, not simply the previous few years, I feel for the final 10 years they’ve been main the way in which in loads of areas.

“Us as All Blacks, we wish to be within the image by way of the world primary.

“That’s a crown they’ve got at the moment.”

Barrett, whose brother Jordie begins at centre, mentioned final yr’s quarter-final “was one of the great matches at the World Cup”.

Angry change

However, the tip of the match was marred by an indignant change between Sexton and All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane.

Sexton has revealed in his biography that Ioane informed him “Don’t miss your flight home tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you (expletive)!”

Sexton, no shrinking violet himself, answered again with curiosity.

“I guess there’s a lot of feeling and two teams that want to get a result so, at times emotions can boil over,” mentioned Barrett.

“You’ve just got to be accurate with your game.”

The Irish have been at pains to say they don’t seem to be on a revenge mission however Barrett mentioned he and his teammates had used the sequence defeat as motivation going into their quarter-final.

“There’s always a lot at stake and even more so against Ireland who potentially have had some success over us in past years,” mentioned the 30-year-old lock.

“Last year’s game at the World Cup, there was a lot of guys hurt by the series loss in 2022 back home, that was easy fuel and you are at a World Cup where everything is heightened.”

For the most recent rugby information, bookmark The South African website’s devoted part for free-to-read content material

TEAMS

Ireland

15 Hugo Keenan, 14, Mack Hansen, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Jack Crowley, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Tadgh Beirne, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Finay Bealham, 2 Ronan Kelleher, 1 Andrew Porter

Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Tom O’Toole, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Peter O’Mahony, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Ciaran Frawley, 23 Jamie Osborne.

New Zealand

15 Will Jordan, 14 Mark Tele’a, 13 Reiko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Wallace Sititi, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Tyral Lomax, 2 Asafo Aumua, 1 Tamaiti Williams

Replacements: 16 George Bell, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Samipeni Finau, 21 Cam Roigard, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Stephen Perofeta

Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Andrea Piardi (Italy)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)