Joe Schmidt Reveals How Little Time Ireland Had To Prepare For All Blacks Game

111 years in the making.

Ireland defeated the All Blacks this past weekend for the first time in their long history, in case you haven’t heard yet. Joe Schmidt’s men ran in five tries against a side that hadn’t been defeated in eighteen games on their way to a famous 40-29 victory.

It’s the country’s first win over the mighty All Blacks in an astonishing 29 attempts, and to make matters even more miraculous-  they also achieved the victory in very unique circumstances.

Due to the game being held in Chicago, Ireland spent a lot of time travelling, and with over half of the squad playing PRO12 last week, it was difficult to get the squad together for any extended preparation ahead of the game.

“(I’m) Blown away, blown away, because, you know, a number of things made it more complicated for us,” Schmidt said following the famous victory.

“As I said, over half the squad played PRO12 last week. We got together on Sunday, really, trained Monday, flew Monday evening. We did a bit of a walk through on Tuesday afternoon, had a day off on Wednesday, trained and trained well Thursday.”

Schmidt also noted that Ireland had a particularly positive training session on Thursday, that he reckons was crucial ahead of the mammoth clash. He also credits the teams motivation and enthusiasm in the build up.

“I think everyone got a bit of confidence from us training well on Thursday,” Schmidt said.

“Everyone had obviously really committed to knowing their role and being really I suppose motivated to be not just accurate but enthusiastic as well. So, that gave us a bit of confidence.”

A magnificent performance and win, made even better when you look back at how little time they had to prepare for the world’s best. Up next is Canada at the Aviva this Saturday.