Ireland v New Zealand - All You Need to Know

A game Irish rugby fans have been waiting for 13 months to arrive.

Andy Farrell's side begin a busy month on Friday night as they welcome New Zealand to Aviva Stadium, renewing what has become a brilliant back and forth Test rivalry in recent years.

Since breaking their duck against the then-world champions in Chicago in 2016, Ireland have just about edged the head-to-head stakes; that win at Soldier Field is one of five victories for Ireland in their last nine games.

While Ireland have won the majority of the recent clashes, New Zealand have won when it mattered most, knocking Joe Schmidt and then Andy Farrell's side out of the last two World Cups at the quarter-final stage.

Those two games have gone a long way towards heating up this rivalry, and there's little love lost between the players. Peter O'Mahony and Sam Cane have reportedly had some verbal jousts on the pitch in previous meetings, while the build-up to this game has been dominated by the release of Johnny Sexton's autobiography, in which he details the sledging he received from New Zealand's Rieko Ioane after last year's World Cup defeat.

Games against Argentina, Fiji and Australia are to follow this month, but for now attention is firmly fixed on righting the wrongs of the World Cup in 2023.

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ONLINE

We'll have a live blog, match report, player ratings and post-game reaction from Aviva Stadium on rte.ie/sport.

RADIO

There will be live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1, with coverage getting under way at 8pm.

TV

The game will be