Ireland need to lay down physical marker against the All Blacks in Aviva

Rugby is a game where everyone talks about respect when there’s a live mic or a reporter around. When there are no mics or no mouthy reporters around, the “respect” changes a little, into something a little more coarse.

If you’ve ever been in a rugby changing room, you’ll know that the way you talk about the opposition in public and behind closed doors are two different things.

This is when rugby becomes what it really is – war by other means – and when the lie of the game being a “collision” sport becomes all the more apparent.

Sure, there are collisions in the game but rugby isn’t a “collision sport” it’s a “confrontation sport”. In dressing rooms, this is when “respect” goes out the door and confrontation becomes the word of the day.

This game on Saturday between Ireland and the All Blacks is the epitome of a confrontation, and on an epic scale. Ireland, on the one hand, want to copperfasten their claim to not only being #2 in the world but to be live contenders to be #1 in the world.

The All Blacks, on the other hand, are the undoubted #1 side in the world and in the mood to knock off the latest pretenders to their crown.

You think that in this game, a clash between these two parties will be played out with “respect” over the 80 minutes?

Please. This game will be the top two teams in the world trying to – metaphorically – kill each other stone dead for two hours with stoppages. This is the element of the game that we just don’t talk about.

We can talk about the technical aspects of this game – and I will do, in detail, at patreon.com/threeredkings for just €2 a month – but the grittier aspects of this fixture can’t be forgotten about either.

For 80 minutes, two sides at opposite ends of the globe will go to war in the Aviva Stadium this Saturday. The winner will strike a critical blow in on the road to Tokyo in 2019 and go into the new year with a definitive claim on being the best side in the world right now, be they in black or green.

The loser, on the other side, will have a lot of time to contemplate how things stand before the next proposed meeting between the two.

With stakes like this, how can we not enjoy the battle? Forget about the game – the rucks, mauls and carries – right now, all I care about is the blood and guts stuff. The fight. The intimidation.

And when it comes to intimidation, there are few teams in the world that do intimidation better than the All Blacks. Everything the All Blacks do is about intimidation.

They even get a World Rugby mandated intimidation slot right after the anthems – the Haka. Forget the PR; the Haka prepares the All Blacks for “war” on the rugby field and don’t forget that for a second.

If it wasn’t useful to them in preparing them for the game they wouldn’t do it. The “challenge” they’re laying down is “can you live with what we’re bringing?”

The secret to answering the Haka isn’t ignoring it or trying to confront it, it’s matching in yourself what the Haka does for the All Blacks. The last time New Zealand were in Ireland, they beat Ireland up with the kind of ultra physical, sometimes extra-legal approach that only they can get away with.

This Saturday, Ireland will have to learn that lesson and approach this game as the fight that it actually is. Forget the rugby – there’s a fight to win first.

Get the likes of James Ryan, Dan Leavy, Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander, Tadhg Furlong and Cian Healy up into their faces and stay there for 80 minutes.

If there’s a scrap, there’s a scrap. If a shot needs to go in, let it go in. New Zealand have no respect for Ireland on that field.

This is a new scenario for Ireland. We’ve never been this close to New Zealand and, as a result, have never had to play them as a live rival. To the All Blacks, this game is their chance to end the hype and return to the normal result – New Zealand win in the end.

If we want respect from the All Blacks – the real respect they only ever paid to teams they feared – we’ll need to knock it out of them this Saturday.

It’ll take every ounce of bitterness, cruelty and brawn we have – and we have plenty. We must be cruel to the All Blacks if we’re to beat them. Remorseless. Pitiless.

If we can manage that, by the time we all shake hands at full time, the world might look a little different. That’s the scale of the challenge awaiting Ireland. Win this fight, and we’ll be somewhere we’ve never been. That alone, is worth fighting for.