PARIS : With so much on the line in the World Cup quarter-final against New Zealand on Saturday, the fact that Ireland could match the top tier record for successive test wins has flown completely under the radar this week.
Andy Farrell's team go into the Stade de France clash on a 17-match winning streak going back to the first test in the three-match series against New Zealand last July, a run that includes a Six Nations Grand Slam.
With top-ranked Ireland looking to end their record of never having won a World Cup knockout match and desperate to keep alive their hopes of winning the Webb Ellis Cup, however, the winning run has not even been discussed. "Stuff like that, like world rankings, all that sort of stuff, it doesn't really come into the equation. It's about us and a performance that we need to be proud of."It was the Irish that ended New Zealand's winning run with a first victory over the All Blacks in 111 years of trying courtesy of a 40-29 win in Chicago in November 2016.