- Title: Ringrose in for Aki as Ireland gear up for All Blacks
- Date: 17th October 2019
- Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (OCTOBER 17, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** IRELAND HEAD COACH JOE SCHMIDT AND CAPTAIN RORY BEST ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE BEST AT NEWS CONFERENCE NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRELAND HEAD COACH, JOE SCHMIDT, SAYING: "Obviously with Bundee (Aki) missing out, that kind of clarified the midfield a little bit. Chris Farrell has been very good for us and his second half performance against Scotland, he really came on and made an influential impact. On the wings, Andrew Conway has been very good, as well as Jordan Larmour so the outside backs is a bit of a conundrum." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRELAND HEAD COACH, JOE SCHMIDT, SAYING: "I think the unfortunate thing about any 23 that comes up against the All Blacks is that they can play very well and still not get a result. That is the quality the All Blacks have, that is the athletes they possess." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRELAND HEAD COACH, JOE SCHMIDT, SAYING: "The accumulation of those experiences hopefully builds a bit of confidence because you need to have some belief. You can't go out against an All Blacks side and accept you are second fiddle. You have to go out and put your best foot forward and we hope that this 23 will be committed to doing that." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRELAND HEAD COACH, JOE SCHMIDT, SAYING: "We are certainly not going to sneak up on them anymore and we are not going to surprise them. I think they are well aware of how we play and what they are going to do to combat that and what they are going to put into their own armory to make sure we are chasing them about." SCHMIDT AND BEST LEAVING
- Embargoed: 31st October 2019 08:50
- Keywords: Japan Rugby World Cup Ireland New Zealand Schmidt
- Location: TOKYO, JAPAN
- City: TOKYO, JAPAN
- Country: Japan
- Topics: Rugby Union,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1HH0ZJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Ireland named Garry Ringrose in the midfield to replace the suspended Bundee Aki for their World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand at Tokyo Stadium on Saturday (October 19).
Aki was suspended for three weeks after he received a red card for a high tackle in Ireland's final Pool A game against Samoa.
Robbie Henshaw, who played centre in the match against Samoa, has moved into the number 12 jersey with Ringrose coming in as centre.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said Aki's suspension had made the midfield one of the easier decisions in a tough selection puzzle across the board for the match.
Schmidt selected as close to his first-choice pack as possible, with seven of the starting forwards having dominated the All Blacks in their 16-9 victory in Dublin last November.
It was their first win at home against the All Blacks and second overall after they recorded their inaugural victory in Chicago in 2016.
While Ireland have won two of their last three matches against the All Blacks, Schmidt said even if they got the selections right, they could still lose.
"The unfortunate thing about any 23 you select for the All Blacks is that they can play very well and still not get the result," Schmidt said.
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