Test match against New Zealand ‘not being viewed as revenge’ mission, says Ireland’s last line of defence

Daire Walsh

It may be their first time to face the southern hemisphere giants since last year’s World Cup quarter-final defeat in France, but Hugo Keenan has said revenge is unlikely to be a motivating factor when Ireland face New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium next Friday.

At Stade de France in Saint-Denis on October 14th, 2023, Keenan played the full 80 minutes when Andy Farrell’s men came face-to-face with the All Blacks in the last eight of the Rugby World Cup. The Leinster fullback had come into that contest with a record of three wins from four encounters against New Zealand, but despite being in contention right up until the closing moments, Ireland fell short of their Kiwi counterparts on that occasion by four points (28-24).

While this was a particularly difficult result for him and his international colleagues to take, Keenan is simply viewing their upcoming clash with the All Blacks as the start of a four-game Autumn Nations Series — rather than an opportunity to gain vengeance for what happened a little over 12 months ago.

“I don’t think we’re viewing it as that [a revenge mission]. We’re obviously still hurting that bit from the World Cup. It was obviously a hugely disappointing loss, but we have to view it as a fresh sort of series. Back at home, the excitement in and around playing four brilliant sides,” Keenan explained from Ireland’s training camp in Portugal.

“A lot of things have changed since then through playing squads and through coaching staff even as well. It’s not a new cycle so to [speak] either, but I don’t think we’ll be looking at it as a revenge game. It’s a game against one of the top nations in the world. Historically probably the best team in the world.”

Although he has become accustomed to playing alongside his Leinster team-mates in the green of Ireland, next week’s showdown with the All Blacks could potentially mean Keenan squaring off against a future provincial ally. After recently spending time on the treatment table because of a knee problem, Jordie Barrett has returned to the New Zealand starting line-up for their Test encounter with England on Saturday.

When the 27-year-old signed a new contract extension with the New Zealand Rugby Union back in April, he elected to exercise an option to play overseas for a certain period of time. Given he had previously spent 15 months as a child with his family in Oldcastle, Co Meath, Barrett was drawn towards a move to Leinster.

He is due to touch base with the province in December on a deal that will last until the end of the 2024-25 season and Keenan is looking forward to seeing what he can bring to Leo Cullen’s set-up.

“It’s exciting to see him back. He has obviously been injured for a couple of weeks. We’re all really excited to have him into Leinster. He’s obviously one of the best players in the world. It’s going to be cool to learn off him. I’ve played against him a few times now and he’s top, top class.

“I’ve even chatted to him after games and swapped jerseys with him. He’s a popular figure, I think. He knows Tyler Bleyendaal [Leinster’s attack coach]. He knows Brian Coakley, our video analyst in Leinster, as well.

“There’s a few relationships there already and they’re speaking very highly of him. Looking forward to getting him into Leinster and getting a few rounds of golf out with him as well. I’ve heard he’s pretty handy.”

Whereas the majority of those who are expected to face New Zealand next Friday under lights in the Aviva played for Ireland on the summer tour of South Africa in July, this wasn’t the case for Keenan. A regular on the Sevens circuit up until 2019, he returned to this form of rugby earlier this year and went on to represent Ireland at the 2024 summer Olympics in Paris.

This ruled him out of the two-Test series with the world champions and with some injury issues also thrown into the mix, Keenan hasn’t donned an Ireland 15s jersey since a fourth-round reversal to England in the Six Nations back on March 9th.

Yet with four outings already under his belt with Leinster in the current season, Keenan believes he has transitioned fully from the Sevens programme.

“It has probably been a bit of an easier transition back. I’ve obviously been playing the 15s game for the last five or so years, full-on. While I had been out of the game, in terms of Sevens, for a longer period. So I had to refresh a lot on the systems and the style of play. While now it sort of feels natural being back playing 15s and enjoying it,” Keenan added.