A grandstand finish to the summer tour sees Ireland bidding to create more history, as the carrot of a 2-1 series win dangles in front of Andy Farrell’s men against a New Zealand side gunning for revenge.
2022 SUMMER TOUR THIRD TEST: Saturday, July 16
NEW ZEALAND v IRELAND, Sky Stadium, Wellington, 7.05pm local time/8.05am Irish time (live Sky Sports Action/Main Event/RTÉ 2fm/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: Head coach Farrell has made one change to the Ireland team that won in Dunedin last week, ahead of the series decider against New Zealand at Wellington’s Sky Stadium.
Bundee Aki, who played 50 minutes of the second Test, comes in for the injured Garry Ringrose and partners Robbie Henshaw in midfield. The Athlone man switches to outside centre.
Jonathan Sexton captains the team for the 20th time as he wins his 108th cap, equalling forwards coach Paul O’Connell’s tally for Ireland. He is six points short of hitting the 1000-point mark for his country.
Sexton, who celebrated his 37th birthday earlier this week, will be partnered at half-back by Jamison Gibson-Park, with the back-three of Hugo Keenan, Mack Hansen and James Lowe retained.
The pack from the first two Tests lines out again in the final game of the summer tour. Andrew Porter, the two-try hero from Dunedin, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong combine again in the front row, supported by Tadhg Beirne and James Ryan at lock.
Peter O’Mahony wins his 87th cap at blindside flanker, linking up once more with Leinster duo Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris in the back row.
Connacht prop Finlay Bealham has recovered from a calf injury to feature on the replacements bench. Rob Herring, Cian Healy, Kieran Treadwell and Jack Conan are the other forward options.
The Munster trio of Conor Murray, Joey Carbery and Keith Earls are the reserve backs. If he is introduced, Limerick man Murray will become Ireland’s most-capped scrum half of all-time, taking over from Peter Stringer (98 caps).
Commenting on the team selection, Farrell said: “Selection has been difficult enough because people are always challenging within the group and challenging in the right manner.
“The meeting this morning was all about making sure that we’re on the same page and pushing in the right direction together, because the force of everyone’s that on tour – there’s a good few of us, there’s near seventy of us on tour.
“Everyone pushing in the right direction over the next couple of days is going to be a hell of a force for us. That’s the session after the selection and everyone’s right on point which is great news.”
He added: “Everyone realises the size of the task in hand, but there’s a lot of excitement in being able to deal with that. I think the best past of where we’re at is we know we can do better.
What we’ve done pretty well over the last period of time is have a clear understanding of what our game is all about and what we need to do to get better. It becomes more clear and obvious the more that we push on together.
“Albeit we had a decent result in the last Test, hopefully our best is saved till last.”
The third Test will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Action/Main Event and RTÉ 2fm. You can follow all the action on our IRFU Live Blog and social channels.
Meanwhile, New Zealand head coach Ian Foster welcomes back a number of experienced players and brings in rugby league convert Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for a potential debut off the bench.
After becoming the second most-capped All Black of all-time in the first Test in Auckland, Sam Whitelock returns from injury to rejoin Brodie Retallick in the second row.
Whitelock’s inclusion sees Scott Barrett revert to blindside flanker, with the hosts’ pack also bolstered by 40-times capped tighthead prop Nepo Laulala. Dane Coles and Akira Ioane have been added to the bench.
In the back-line, Will Jordan slots back in on the right wing following his try-scoring cameo in Dunedin. David Havili is back from a bout of Covid-19 to start in midfield alongside Rieko Ioane, who wins his 50th cap.
“It’s tough having a loss but the tough weeks are often the most exciting,” said Foster. “A series decider against a high-quality side is a great occasion for our growth as a team.”
The All Blacks have played Ireland in Wellington just three times – twice at Athletic Park (1976 and 1992) and once at Sky Stadium in 2008 when they won 21-11.
NEW ZEALAND: Jordie Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes); Will Jordan (Tasman/Crusaders), Rieko Ioane (Auckland/Blues), David Havili (Tasman/Crusaders), Sevu Reece (Tasman/Crusaders); Beauden Barrett (Taranaki/Blues), Aaron Smith (Manawatu/Highlanders); George Bower (Otago/Crusaders), Codie Taylor (Canterbury/Crusaders), Nepo Laulala (Counties Manukau/Blues), Brodie Retallick (Hawke’s Bay/Chiefs), Sam Whitelock (Canterbury/Crusaders), Scott Barrett (Taranaki/Crusaders), Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty/Chiefs) (capt), Ardie Savea (Wellington/Hurricanes).
Replacements: Dane Coles (Wellington/Hurricanes), Aidan Ross (Bay of Plenty/Chiefs), Ofa Tu’ungafasi (Northland/Blues), Akira Ioane (Auckland/Blues), Dalton Papali’i (Counties Manukau/Blues), Folau Fakatava (Hawke’s Bay/Highlanders), Richie Mo’unga (Canterbury/Crusaders), Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (Auckland/Blues).
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster); Mack Hansen (Connacht), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht), James Lowe (Leinster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster) (capt), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Dan Sheehan (Lansdowne/Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster).
Replacements: Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht), Kieran Treadwell (Ballymena/Ulster), Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster).
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson, Christophe Ridley (both England)
Television Match Official: Tom Foley (England)
Pre-Match Quotes: Jonathan Sexton (Ireland) –
It doesn’t come along too often. It’s a very special week and you’ve got to embrace it, especially when you get to my age and you know that there are not too many left.
“This is the last tour and you want to make the most of it. All the boys are the same. They know that most of them will never be back in New Zealand and we want to do something special, but at the same time we know how difficult it’s going to be.
“They are a top quality side. They didn’t play their best last week and I’m sure they will have plans for their performance to improve and we need to find the same.
“At the end of the day it’s another game, but in some ways it’s not and you’ve got to sort of acknowledge that and talk about it because you hear teams when they get to, say, a World Cup final, they say it’s just another game but it’s not.
“No one feels like it’s just another game. You’ve got to acknowledge it and talk about it and make sure that you get all those things out on the table so that by kick-off time you have nothing bottled up.”
Sam Cane (New Zealand) –
The situation is not what we wanted, but now we look at it and embrace it. It’s a good challenge for us. It’s do or die, it’s just like World Cup stuff, so we’re looking forward to it.
“The drive is massive. We were hugely disappointed with what we dished out last Saturday. We need to be so much better. Our drive is the fact we have pride in the jersey, we’re not happy with what we put out and we’ll be working hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“It’s about channelling our emotions the right way. We’re angry, disappointed in ourselves, but there’s no point dwelling on that performance.
“We have to pick ourselves up and shift the mindset, highlighting the things we need to get better at. That’s quite energising and exciting, and then we save those other emotions for Saturday night.”
Pre-Match Links –
Ireland Tickets On General Sale For Autumn Nations Series
Treadwell And Casey Ready To ‘Get The Ball Rolling’ For Test Preparations
Doris: There’s Massive Excitement And Real Hunger To Finish It Off
In Pics: Ireland Captain’s Run At Sky Stadium
‘The Job’s Not Done’ – Lowe
Sexton: It’s The Last Tour, We Want To Do Something Special
Recent Meetings –
2019: Rugby World Cup Quarter-Final: New Zealand 46 Ireland 14, Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
2021: Autumn Nations Series: Ireland 29 New Zealand 20, Aviva Stadium
2022: Summer Tour – First Test: New Zealand 42 Ireland 19, Eden Park, Auckland; Second Test: New Zealand 12 Ireland 23, Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
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