The nation holds its breath as Ireland prepare to face New Zealand

By Gerry Buckley

As people all over the Republic of Ireland sweated profusely, yours truly was unaware at the time of RTÉ commentator George Hamilton’s infamous line 'The nation holds its breath" in Genoa on June 25, 1990. That's because I was privileged to be behind the goalmouth where penalty kicks were being taken to decide who would face hosts Italy in the World Cup quarter-final.

In truth, my breathing – like thousands of green and white-clad compatriots in the vicinity – was very erratic during that unforgettable drama as Dave O’Leary, a classy Arsenal centre half not suited to Big Jack’s uncompromising ‘put ‘em under pressure’ style of play, sealed his place in Irish sporting folklore.

All of 33 years later, the entire island of Ireland (why do the players from the Six Counties not sing Ireland’s Call when it was assumedly composed to appease them?) is holding its breath ahead of a rugby World Cup quarter-final against the All Blacks. Frankly, it's a game will go a long way in determining whether the likes of Johnny Sexton will be treated with the same reverence as the aforementioned O’Leary in the annals of Irish sport.

The shadow boxing in this ridiculously-elongated tournament in France is over now (can the powers-that-be be really serious about increasing the number of participating countries? – I would make a case for reducing it!). And it’s a case of poop-or-bust on Saturday at 8pm Irish time in Paris for Andy Farrell’s troops as they attempt to break through a glass ceiling which has haunted a succession of Irish coaches since the global competition commenced in 1987.

In truth, getting to a rugby World Cup quarter-final hardly counts as an achievement in its own right (it most certainly did in soccer at Italia ’90), given that maybe a dozen countries (and that might be stretching it) can play the oval ball game to a certain high standard.

However, in the nine stagings of the competition to date, Ireland somehow failed to make the last eight twice (1999 and 2007), and in quarter-finals have lost to Australia (twice – 1991 in Lansdowne Road still hurts), France (also twice), Wales, Argentina, and New Zealand.

The latter defeat was four years ago in Japan, with a scoreline of 46-14 needing no embellishment. This scribe was on reporting duty in Clane that day and brought along a transistor to listen to the second half of the rugby as a camogie game unfolded. However, after watching a one-sided first half on television in the clubhouse, there was no need to follow the second moiety with the All Blacks home and hosed from an early juncture.

In words reminiscent of my late father announcing after a Westmeath defeat that he “will never travel to see that shower again”, and saying so again when he did travel to the next game, I loudly proclaimed in Clane that, “I’m never building up my hopes again for Ireland in the World Cup”, but, of course, was I was gung-ho ahead of this year’s tenth tournament in France.

The reality is that there has been clear evidence in the Farrell era that something special has been brewing and the minimum ambition of getting to a semi-final (achieved by all the other four countries in the original Five Nations) is very much on.

However, there is the small matter of a haka and 80-plus minutes of ensuing rugby in the Stade de France standing between Ireland and history. The current squad of players wearing the famous silver fern on their jerseys possesses no living legend in the mould of Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, or the late, great Jonah Lomu in their ranks, but rest assured that they will be extremely difficult to overturn on Saturday night.

I was thrilled to get to see them in person a couple of short months ago when they overpowered Australia in the Melbourne Cricket Ground (an awesome stadium), but Eddie Jones’ men have been recently proven to be very weak by Oz standards.

My oft-stated main sporting ambition in the ‘reasonable’ category was to see my beloved Westmeath beat Meath in senior football championship action. John Heslin, Kieran Martin, and a man from the aforementioned Clane, Tom Cribbin, whom I have known for decades, were hugely instrumental in that glass ceiling being broken on June 28, 2015.

Next up, albeit a distant second, was to see Ireland beating the All Blacks, having made my debut as a fan in January 1973 when a first-ever draw was garnered (10-all, with Barry McGann narrowly missing the last-gasp conversion for a win).

Accordingly, the long-overdue win in Chicago in 2016 was fantastic (even if not in the flesh), but that marvellous win was tainted somewhat in the ensuing weeks when the New Zealanders avenged the result in Dublin. The psyche of that rugby-obsessed nation was neatly encapsulated by their coach in a post-match interview after a bruising encounter in the Aviva: “We came here to win a Test match, and we won it. Next question please.”

The current All Blacks will arrive in Paris on Saturday intent on winning a particularly important Test match, with the added incentive of avenging their shock series defeat on home soil last year. And they will not give one poop how they do so. Accordingly, as George Hamilton often said when opponents looked set to score a goal against the Boys in Green: “Danger here!”