Past irrelevant for Irish in NZ quarter-final, says Farrell

PARIS :Past successes and failures will be irrelevant to the Ireland team when they take to the field to play three-times champions New Zealand in the World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday, coach Andy Farrell said on Wednesday after naming his team.

The Irish are ranked number one in the world and have won five of their last eight tests against New Zealand, but have never previously got past the quarter-finals at nine previous World Cups.

"It's just about the here and now," Farrell told reporters. "What's happened in the past is irrelevant, we're just trying to get better every week and so are they."

Captain Johnny Sexton was part of the squads that lost World Cup quarter-finals in 2011, 2015 and 2019 but said he thought it would not weigh upon the players.

"We worked on our mental game for the last four years, we've put ourselves in different situations to prepare for this," he said.

"Each quarter-final that we haven't got through our pool, they've all been different and it's a different group again. It wasn't the same group losing a quarter-final year after year.

"I don't think we're carrying much baggage, it's a one-off game and we've got to prepare for it."

Farrell was able to name an unchanged starting team for the game with Mack Hansen and James Lowe both passed fit to play.

Hansen suffered a calf injury and Lowe a blow to the eye in Ireland's last pool match against Scotland but both will take their places on the wings at Stade de France.

Replacement lock James Ryan misses out and was replaced by Joe McCarthy on the bench, where Jimmy O'Brien comes in as outside back cover in place of Stuart McCloskey.

Farrell said Ryan would probably be available for the semi-finals if Ireland managed to get past New Zealand.

"It's