History adds spice as Ireland ride into All Blacks rematch

Sexton-Ioane spat provides another layer of intrigue to first meeting since the 2023 World Cup quarter-final

- Brendan Fanning

In Ireland we have a curious custom of thanking the bus driver when they pull up at our stop. No one knows how or where it started, but this salute on your step out the door is widespread, and has endured. So, you're asking yourself, maybe Rieko Ioane was getting in on the action when Ireland's designated quarter-final stop arrived at last year's World Cup, the last time these teams met. The All Blacks were driving the bus at the time. Maybe he was asking Johnny Sexton if Ireland's departing legend had forgotten his manners.

Not according to Sexton's account. That little poisonous interplay between them has hurried this fixture along, even if Ireland's fly-half is involved now only in the background as coach to the No 10s in the squad, and won't be on site for this match. For sure, though, there will be something in the air.

"Hopefully - that's what everyone wants, isn't it?" Andy Farrell says. "They want it as well. That's what normally happens when the All Blacks come into town anyway. I haven't seen it any different to that so I think Irish rugby's in a good place. I think everyone knows New Zealand are always the team to beat."

Even without that added ingredient tickets were snapped up for a fixture Farrell has been targeting since a satisfying summer, ending all square, in South Africa.