All Blacks: Irish planning aerial assault

Ronan O'Gara. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Stealing the secrets of the Irish game plan is hardly the equivalent of cracking the Enigma Code but in case you were wondering, the All Blacks should prepare for an aerial assault.

Ireland assistant coaches Gert Smal and Les Kiss yesterday nominated two of the Irish strengths - the lineout and the up-and-under - as areas they would target the All Blacks at New Plymouth tomorrow night.

The lineout has been the sand in the shoe of New Zealand sides for years and although that set-piece worked relatively well on the end-of-year tour, that was under the tutelage of Graham Henry.

With the forwards back under the scrutiny of Steve Hansen, there is interest in whether the lineout will continue its upward trend. Any sign of regression and the Irish, even without the talismanic Paul O'Connell, are waiting.

"We are confident we can get our ball and put enough pressure on their ball. It's maybe one of our strengths. We've got things in place," forwards coach Smal said.

Hansen nominated the tight five as an area the All Blacks should dominate. While not buying into the phoney war, Smal, a South African best remembered for knocking Gary Knight to the ground with a right cross during the derided Cavaliers tour, believed his big men were up for the challenge.

"It's nothing new. Each pack wants to dominate the other pack so it's a nice challenge for us. Growing up playing rugby you want to play against the best and we get an opportunity to play against the best [tomorrow]."

If the tight five will provide the battleground, expect the skirmishes out wide to be dictated by the boot.

Defence coach Les Kiss said that the new laws emphasis might mean more space, but you still had to "know when to pull the trigger and when to play the conservative game".

"It's test rugby, it's another level above everything else," Kiss said. "We've got no doubts that they'll go for it when they can and try to peg us at our end when they feel that's right as well.

"Hopefully, we can play that chess game just as well."

One of Ireland's more valuable pieces, Ronan O'Gara, will put the theory that Joe Rokocoko has become more confident under the Garryowen to the test.

"Rokocoko in the past has struggled, but has done work on it everyone has said and has probably improved," Kiss noted. "Cory Jane is very good in the air and Israel Dagg is no slouch either. Ball in the air is something we pride ourselves on - we've got good guys in there."

That's not to say it will be a kick-fest. Kiss made note of Ireland's Six Nations performance against England when "we hardly had the ball and we put three superb tries on them, so we've got our threats across the park as well".

With rain and brisk westerlies straight off the Tasman forecast for tomorrow night, however, the tentative return to running rugby that highlighted the Super 14 may feel like a lifetime ago.