Andy Farrell: All Blacks are ultimate Test of Ireland’s World Cup credentials

Andy Farrell believes Ireland’s forthcoming tour of New Zealand will provide the “ultimate” test and serve as vital preparation for next year’s World Cup.

Head coach Farrell is eager to take his in-form team out of their comfort zone and on Tuesday named a 40-man selection for next month’s three-match series against the formidable All Blacks.

Ireland have impressed for much of the past 18 months, winning 12 of their last 13 fixtures, including a pulsating defeat of Ian Foster’s Kiwis in Dublin in the autumn.

Yet many of Farrell’s squad, which includes five uncapped players, are yet to experience international rugby outside Europe after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of a 2020 trip to Australia and last year’s proposed visit to Fiji.

With the countdown to the 2023 World Cup in France well under way, the Englishman is keen to build experience and is braced for a major examination of recent progress.

“Any good performance that you’ve seen over the last two years, we need to be better than that,” Farrell said of the upcoming trip.

“It’s different over there and that’s why touring for these lads is some important. We’ve missed it.

We're so excited about taking this squad to probably the hardest place in world rugby to go to and finding out about ourselves.- Andy Farrell

“We’ve lads on 20-plus caps who’ve never toured. Walking around Auckland or Wellington or Dunedin, it’s not like walking down Ballsbridge (area of Dublin which is home to the Aviva Stadium) and people winding the window down and saying how good you are.

“This is completely different; this is proper international rugby that doesn’t get any better and it’s exactly what we want at this moment in time.

“We’re so excited about taking this squad to