‘Ireland the best team in the world’

Standard published on

How the New Zealand media reacted to Ireland’s 16-9 win against the All Blacks in Dublin.

Gregor Paul, New Zealand Herald

‘Ireland can now claim to be the best team in the world after producing a stunning performance that was brave, creative and relentless. They deserved the win and with it, they deserve to be seen as world rugby’s best team even if the rankings don’t agree.’

Liam Napier, New Zealand Herald

‘Ireland are the world’s best, then. Certainly, that is now true of 2018. Six Nations champions, and now having secured their first home victory over the All Blacks in history, to go alongside their maiden win two years ago, they are deserving of that mantle.’

Martin Delvin, radio personality 

‘Rugby history in Dublin, but not just rugby history, sporting history. The very first time 113 years that the Irish have beaten the All Blacks at home. The unthinkable has happened. Hell frozen over. Porcelain creatures taking flight. Ireland producing just a brilliant performance, an All Blacks like performance to shut out the back-to-back world champs.’

Marc Hinton, stuff.co.nz

‘Less than a year out from the World Cup, Ireland must assume the favourite’s tag. They have won 17 of their last 18 Tests, they have just secured their first every victory over the back-to-back world champions on home soil (and their second in three seasons) and they have done so with as disciplined and destructive a performance as you could hope to have seen at the very top of this international game.’

Grant Chapman, newshub.co.nz

‘Ireland may not snatch the top spot on world rankings as a result of this victory, but they will certainly go into next year’s tournament with the moral high ground. Underdog status – if you can call it that – won’t necessarily be a bad thing for the All Blacks. They will still face the pressure of defending their crown, but have perhaps shifted the expectation onto the men in green.’

Richard Knowler, stuff.co.nz

‘Ireland are the unofficial kings of world rugby. On this performance in Dublin, it would be churlish to dispute the argument that the superpower of northern hemisphere rugby now deserves to be considered the best team on the planet.’

Post by