LONG READ Mutual regard makes way for enmity as the flames of a very modern rivalry are fanned

If you have ever been involved in an unlikely and outrageous success on a sports field you will identify with the chill when the hangover clears. We’re not talking about the moment it dawns on you that yes, the planets were actually aligned right for once and what a glorious feeling that induces. The hangover? Not that either. It’s gone in an instant as you set off on day two, the follow-on, the story-swap of the night before and the game itself with all the bits and pieces you missed. No, it’s the bit that comes next: hangover, the sequel.

Chicago in the first week of November 2016 was epic for the city and its flood of Irish visitors. The locals got to celebrate the Cubs’ first World Series in 108 years, and the tourists topped it off with their first win over New Zealand in a relationship that dates back to 1905. The hospitality industry in the Windy City never had it so good.

Lots of those centrally involved have spoken about the memories banked forever. In his excellent autobiography, Obsessed, Johnny Sexton says: “It’s an incredible memory, especially the lap of honour, seeing all sorts of familiar faces in an unfamiliar context.”

The face I remember most however was Joe Schmidt a few days after we got back. His moment of lucidity had arrived ahead of anyone else, and taken root. The coach was hoping his players were having the same experience. The sequel to the hangover would be part two of this mini-series: the All Blacks in Dublin, a fortnight later.

If you are a watcher of warm-ups to matches as well as the matches themselves, you’d have been struck by the ABs’ routine that day in Soldier Field. In the minutes before the collective routine cranks up, players usually tend to whatever is on their personal playlist, but we were fascinated by the game of rugby-golf keeping a bunch of the Kiwi backs occupied.

With cones marking out the greens and the tee boxes a group of highly talented footballers were showing off their skills in landing the ball on the right patch of grass. If it was good to watch then it was evidently far better to play, for these lads looked like they were in the local park with the kids on a summer’s afternoon, having a whale of a time.

This was hard to envisage over the years where Ireland packed near-misses into the same suitcase as unbridled batterings and lugged the weight around with no sign of journey’s end.

At the other end of the field the mood was nothing like upbeat for the Ireland side, whose training had gone badly that week, preparing for a game they did not expect to win. Despite the dramatic outcome, it’s likely their hopes were trumped by their fears about what was coming next.

The smackdown from the All Blacks could not be carried out with the same brutality in today’s version of the game, for a lot has changed in rugby since then. Included in that list is the relationship between Ireland and New Zealand. So when Jamison Gibson-Park, an Irish citizen, refers now to his countrymen as “arch rivals”, he’s not shredding the trade descriptions act.

This was hard to envisage over the years where Ireland packed near-misses into the same suitcase as unbridled batterings and lugged the weight around with no sign of journey’s end. For a handle on the distance covered, consider the bookies have the home team at -5 points on Friday night.

Summer 2022 changed everything. What began with Andy Farrell’s mad idea of a challenge in New Zealand – three Tests and two collisions with the Maori – turned into a masterstroke in judgement and timing. It’s worth remembering the way it started: defeat by the Maori, then defeat in the first Test, with 10 tries conceded across those two games. Then a stunning streak of three wins in a row, just when previous experience would have suggested the tourists were running on empty. Confirmation of the new configuration in this relationship was confirmed at last year’s World Cup when there was barely a beermat between them.

Interestingly Gibson-Park referred to the sharing of a few beers immediately after a Test match as one of his favourite things about the game.  In the dark days of this fixture that was never really a runner because you can’t enjoy that kind of setting without mutual respect. Ireland couldn’t even begin to address that without getting a win.

Beating the All Blacks = respect; losing to the All Blacks = no respect

You lost count of the number of times this simple equation was trotted out to us covering tours of New Zealand: park your hard luck story in the same closet as the close shaves. Beating the All Blacks = respect; losing to the All Blacks = no respect. So now with the mutual regard business out of the way, we get to open the door on enmity. The closing scene in Paris last year gives us a good-sized portion of that.

On the one hand, the picture of Jordie Barrett pulling a pint in a Dublin pub this week is a cosy intro to his arrival shortly in Leinster. The Barrett brothers already have plenty of experience of Ireland having spent over a year on a dairy farm in Co Meath as kids when their dad Kevin came over as manager.

On the other, Barrett’s centre partner in the World Cup fixture that night – Rieko Ioane – is connected here only through his post-final whistle spat with Johnny Sexton. That little exchange alone will do wonders for the sales of Sexton’s book outside this jurisdiction.

The moment Ireland’s record points-scoring out-half was announced last month as part of the wider coaching crew, this game took another bounce. If you were the TV director, you’d be hoping that somehow he might have a seat in the coaching box – if not, then you’d want to know where he’s sitting so you could cut to him at the appropriate moment.

Given the tedious debate over the life expectancy of the Haka added a few degrees to the temperature in Twickenham last weekend, then the sign-off to that World Cup quarter-final gives added value to Friday night on Lansdowne Road.

With Sexton off the field, it also gives room and opportunity for the next chapter to unfold. Jack Crowley was still in school when Ireland shifted the dial in Chicago, and Ciarán Frawley was only a year out of it. Neither was even on the planet when New Zealand thought of Ireland as no more than a speed bump, hardly worthy of a change in gear.

Nor would either of them have an issue with going toe to toe against the All Blacks the following week. Their interest is always the next instalment.

This motto may not have won the day for the Democrats in the US but for Ireland, ‘We’re Not Going Back’ works pretty well.