Irish plan for Schmidt reunion in quarter-final

Simon Easterby (right) worked with Joe Schmidt (left) for five years before Schmidt left Ireland in 2019

Ireland are excited to face World Cup "standard bearers" New Zealand and come up against a familiar face in Joe Schmidt, says Simon Easterby.

Former Ireland head coach Schmidt is the All Blacks attack coach, having joined the team's set-up in late 2021.

"Joe's influence certainly has increased over the last 12 months," said Ireland assistant coach Easterby.

"But we've got to be excited about playing the standard bearers of World Cup rugby.

"New Zealand have always turned up for World Cups and we've seen with the way they've dealt with a little bit of adversity in the pre-season game against South Africa and the game against France could've gone either way."

Schmidt led Ireland for six years and masterminded two Test wins over the All Blacks, in 2016 and 2018.

But having left his role with Ireland after the 2019 World Cup quarter-final defeat by New Zealand, he spent a year as World Rugby's director of rugby and high performance before returning home.

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After a stint as a coach with Auckland-based Super Rugby side the Blues, Schmidt was appointed selector for New Zealand before becoming attack coach. He faced Ireland during last year's Test series but he is now tasked with helping New Zealand to a big knockout triumph over the world's number one side.

Andy Farrell's Ireland are considered favourites by many given their 17-match winning run but New Zealand scored 25 tries in their last two Pool A matches and appear to be peaking just in time for the latest chapter of their rivalry with the Six Nations champions.

"They've built nicely over the last couple of weeks in terms of performances and the way they want to play," added Easterby, who worked under Schmidt alongside Farrell before the latter took the Ireland head coach role.

"Joe will know plenty about what we're about, the individuals in our group, but we'll have an insight into what they might try and do as well.

"It's finely balanced and it's an interesting sub-plot to the game itself."

While the All Blacks thrashed Ireland at the World Cup in Japan four years ago, the Irish arguably have the psychological edge following their Test series triumph in New Zealand last summer.

"Whatever you want to say about that series, it would have hurt them to lose at home against us," added Easterby.

"We're just trying to focus on what we can do really well. On the whole we did that against Scotland.

"There are parts of our game we can get better at, conceding a couple of tries late on was disappointing but the lads put an incredible shift in and we probably missed a couple of chances as well.

"What happened last summer is still in the back of their minds and certainly it's human nature that it would be the case.

"But at the end of the day, Saturday is a different environment, it's a neutral venue and we're going to have to be right on top of our game to beat this New Zealand team."

Ireland won last summer's Test series against the All Blacks in New Zealand

Former British and Irish Lions flanker Easterby, who won 65 caps for Ireland, also believes that his side's knack for winning tight Test matches against elite nations means they are a stronger unit than the side that bowed out against New Zealand at the last World Cup.

"New guys have come in but we've experienced so much over the last four years.

"Those guys that played in 2019 will no doubt have gained experience and understanding around different parts of the game, how to approach games, how to adapt during games but also the fresh blood that came in after 2019 have had unbelievable experiences.

"Part of what Faz [Farrell] wanted to do was stress the players, put them in those situations so they have that bank of understanding to draw from. There's no bigger than playing New Zealand in a quarter-final.

"We've been here before, we were well beaten four years ago but there are lots of good learnings. Although it's a different coaching group and team, there's a lot of similarities in their team and ours.

"The experiences of the last four years and that game will be an important factor on Saturday."