Ireland look to bury World Cup jinx in crunch All Blacks clash

PARIS : Form clashes with pedigree when Ireland look to bury their World Cup jinx forever against New Zealand at the Stade de France on Saturday in one of the most eagerly anticipated World Cup quarter-finals for many years.

Six Nations champions Ireland have already beaten defending champions South Africa in the pool stage and are riding a 17-match winning streak but know all that will count for nothing if they cannot get past the All Blacks.

No Ireland team has ever won a knockout match at the World Cup and ending that lamentable record to set up a semi-final against Wales or Argentina is the only thing Andy Farrell's team are interested in this week.

"Ireland hasn't been past these sort of stages so that's obviously a big motivation," said number eight Caelan Doris.

"We said at the start of the competition, we want to go the whole way. We think we have the squad to do it."

Perennial title contenders New Zealand, by contrast, have only once failed to get as far as the semi-finals and lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 1987, 2011 and 2015.

This All Blacks team has not enjoyed the dominance of their predecessors, however, and they suffered a home test series loss to the Irish last year before going down to hosts France in the tournament opener, their first ever pool-phase defeat.

A record 35-7 loss to the Springboks in their final warm-up match also increased jitters back home which their subsequent pool phase drubbings of Namibia, Italy and Uruguay have failed to fully settle.

Having kept Ireland winless for more than a century up until 2016, the All Blacks have lost five of the last eight meetings between the teams.

Coach Ian Foster will, though, be able put out his best team for the first time since sweeping the Rugby