Tadhg Beirne: I still have nightmares about quarter-final against New Zealand

The Ireland players and staff have been at pains to stress that tonight's meeting with New Zealand at Aviva Stadium is not – I repeat not – a revenge mission.

They can say it all they like, but it’s hard to believe that between those four walls at 7.55pm tonight, just before Caelan Doris leads the team out onto the pitch, he and his team-mates won't be referring to their World Cup pain of 13 months earlier.

Ultimately, these things come down to personal preference. For some, a clean break with the past is the best way to get better in the future.

For others, like Tadhg Beirne, previous pain can be the ultimate motivator.

"I still have nightmares about that game," the versatile forward said, when he’s reminded of the World Cup quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks just over a year ago.

And he admits his mind will wander "quite regularly" to that game, and thoughts of what might have been.

"Particularly if you are having a sleepless night [laughs], it can keep you up at night sometimes.

"I think that's sport and they are the things you kind of have to live with. You have lost, live with disappointment for that, there are ones where we have probably disappointed others in the past and they are in the situation I am in.

"We lost that day and we can't change it but sometimes those moments just pop into your head and you can't help it, what could have been.

"Look, it is a game of inches at the end of the day and I think there is a few moments in that game where we have looked back and said 'we could have done this' and 'we could have done that' and I think it is just being better in the moment, being able to see things in the moment and take those opportunities.

"One thing that sticks out in my mind was something I don't usually do in