Ian Foster plays down New Zealand's Dublin defeat to Ireland

New Zealand attack coach Ian Foster said the All Blacks' defeat against Ireland in Dublin last year will be irrelevant when the two teams face each other in the World Cup quarter-final in Tokyo on Saturday.

Jacob Stockdale was the solitary try-scorer while Johnny Sexton kicked three penalties and a conversion as Joe Schmidt's side completed a 16-9 victory during the November internationals. It was also New Zealand's second defeat to Ireland in the last three years as they also lost 29-40 in Chicago but Foster believes the past record doesn't matter in a World Cup knock-out game.

"We don’t get too stuck in the past," said Foster.

"We just got beat by a good Irish team. That was a different time, different place, is it relevant? Perhaps, they would have learned some stuff, we learned some stuff.

 "We actually don't get too stuck in the past, it's more about the challenge that’s in front of us.

"This is a World Cup knockout game and it’s actually about what happens this week, not what happened in the last two years. We know everyone comes for us every time we play."

The All Blacks have a dominating head-to-head record against Ireland as they went on to win 28 out of the 31 games between the teams. The winner of Saturday's game will face either England or Australia in the semi-final that will be played at International Stadium Yokohama on 26th October.