New Zealand assistant coach Ian Foster doesn't think recent results between the sides will have much bearing on Saturday's Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Ireland.
Joe Schmidt's side have been beaten the All-Blacks twice in the last three years including their last meeting in Dublin last November.
“I can’t remember it,” Foster said when asked today about that loss at the Aviva Stadium.
“We just got beat by a good Irish team. That was a different time, a different place, is it relevant? Perhaps they would have learned some stuff but we learned some stuff.
“We actually don’t get too stuck in the past, it’s more about the challenge that’s in front of us. This is a World Cup knock-out game and it’s actually about what happens this week, not what happened in the last two years.
Brendan Moran/Sportsfile“How you use the past is interesting, you gather information from last wins and losses but, really, it’s about not going in with too many assumptions and seeing what turns up and acting accordingly.
“They’re a quality team, we know that. They’re very experienced but so are we. We’ve just got to go and play off the cards we’ve been dealt this week.
“We’ve had a week off and the guys are really excited. We’ve got 31 fit players. The focus on the detail is huge, that’s how we go about it. It’s a big game but we play a lot of big games in this sport.”
Steve Hansen's right hand man was not drawn on questions about Ireland's defence coach Andy Farrell helping to mastermind four recent victories over the All-Blacks (with England, the Lions and Ireland) and he claimed that Bundee Aki's suspension was 'consistent' with the application of tackle rules at the tournament.
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