How are your nerves?Ireland and New Zealand clash in Paris on Saturday night in what is being billed as the country's most important Test match ever.Having never been beyond the quarter-final stage at the World Cup, Ireland must break new ground against the three-time Webb Ellis champions.Here’s all you need to know about the blockbuster at Stade de France. RADIO Listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 with Michael Corcoran and Donal Lenihan. ONLINE Follow a live blog on RTE.ie/sport and the RTÉ News App followed by report, reaction and player ratings. TV The match is live on Virgin Media TV. WEATHER Partly cloudy with temperature of around 9C.
A gentle wind of around 7kph is expected. While it was never a foregone conclusion, this quarter-final match-up was always a strong possibility.In the end it came to pass with Ireland beating South Africa 13-8 in Pool B and topping that group, and New Zealand finishing second in Pool A after an opening-round 27-13 loss to France.Ian Foster’s men went on to record huge victories against Namibia, Italy and Uruguay, while Ireland had little to worry about in routine wins over Romania, Tonga and Scotland.It’s all led to what promises to be a thrilling, high-calibre showdown between the world ranked number one side and the 1987, 2011 and 2015 winners New Zealand, ranked fourth.It will be the 37th ever meeting of the teams with Ireland losing 30, drawing one and winning five since their first encounter in 1905.It’s a stark statistic but of more relevance is that Ireland’s five wins have come in their last eight meetings, staring with the famous 40-29 victory in Chicago in 2018.Andy Farrell’s side also claimed a series win (below) in the Land of the Long White Cloud just last year.The