'Current Ireland squad very different from that played under Joe Schmidt' - Keith Earls

Ireland winger Keith Earls insisted that former coach Joe Schmidt will have less information on the current squad as they face New Zealand in the quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup.

Schmidt has the experience of coaching Ireland between 2013 and 2019 and was one of their most successful coach after guiding them to three Six Nations titles (2014, 2015 and Grand Slam 2018) and registered their first ever win over the All Blacks in Chicago in 2016.

He is currently part of New Zealand's backroom staff assuming the role of attack coach with Ian Foster reckoning that the 58-year-old's experience with Ireland will come handy in the weekend's encounter.

“He [Schmidt] knows the Irish well but that’s information that we’ve been tapping into [during] the last 12 months,” said Foster.

Reacting to Foster's comments, Earls said the current squad has a complete different outlook under Andy Farrell.

“I don’t think Joe would know anything about this squad,” said Earls.

“We are a completely different squad. He probably knows things about individuals but, again, we have all changed our habits under this coaching staff and we genuinely don’t use any of the habits that Joe taught us.

"Look, he might have a thing on a couple of individuals. But we are certainly not the same team that played under Joe.”