All Blacks vs Ireland time

The connoisseur's choice of internationals this weekend is New Zealand v Ireland and the chance of history being made.

This weekend, though, what feels a more traditional format begins, with teams travelling to the other side of the world for a Test series of meaningful length against one team. South Africa have picked a characteristically monstrous team, packed with World Cup winners, for their first Test against Wales, while Argentina have gone similarly full-bore for theirs against Scotland. Wales give a first cap to Leicester flanker Tommy Reffell, who will line up against Leicester teammate and fellow English champion, Jasper Wiese, at No8 for the Springboks. Alun Wyn Jones’s 150 caps will weigh heavily on Wales’s bench. Cian Healy was carted off with a twisted knee in Ireland’s 32-17 defeat to the Maori on Tuesday, but he seems to have recovered sufficiently to assume his place on the bench this weekend. If international rugby gets its way, every other year we will see yet another tournament of meaning and intensity crank itself up on this first weekend of July, in a desperate bid to hold off the encroaching power and influence of the domestic game. France have only two Tests this July, in Japan. Whoever wins in Eden Park will leapfrog them into second place in World Rugby’s rankings. In the perennial struggle between domestic sport and international, more exquisitely poised in rugby than anywhere else, this weekend marks the opening of the latest window for the international game to set out its stall.

All Blacks v Ireland, the opening test in a three-match tour. Kicking off at 7.05pm, at Eden Park. What's at stake? The All Blacks are likely to meet either ...

The PR team also ask — quite reasonably — that anyone attending the game be nice to the staff. Two former world players of the year, Beauden Barrett and Johnny Sexton, are running the show. And Covid-19 went through their coaching staff quicker than a group of QAnon nutters in the crowd at a Donald Trump rally. Nope. Ireland are a real-deal team — and tonight's first test is their best chance to break down another barrier, beating the All Blacks at home. There are 120 trains and buses running to the venue for free. Englishman Karl Dickson is the referee. They've won three of the past five matches between these two sides, never having claimed an All Black scalp prior to 2016. If the All Blacks win all three matches, the series is no big deal. The good folk in the Eden Park PR team tell us they're expecting to sell 6500 punnets of hot chips and 2000 boxes of donuts. Lose one, and we'll shift nervously in our seats. So, there will be many tea leaves to sift after this series. They will be greatly added by the fact the All Blacks are often scratchy in their first test of the year.

Is New Zealand vs Ireland on TV? Kick-off time, channel and how to watch summer tour. Everything you need to know ahead of the first Test in Auckland. Luke ...

At a neutral version, or on Irish soil, Ireland might well be favourites against the All Blacks but their Eden Park record is so formidable, it’s hard to predict anything other than a New Zealand victory. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Scott Barrett, 7. Beauden Barrett, 9. James Ryan, 6. Tadhg Beirne, 5. Tadhg Furlong, 4. Crusaders wing Leicester Fainga’anuku will make his All Blacks debut and Chiefs back-rower Pita Gus Sowakula could do likewise from the bench. James Lowe, 10. Johnny Sexton captains the side from fly-half, while Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose are preferred in the centres to Bundee Aki and Peter O’Mahony, Josh van der Flier and Caelan Doris form the back row as Jack Conan is a replacement. A much-changed Ireland side also suffered a chastening defeat to the Maori All Blacks in midweek but only one of that starting XV will line up come the opening whistle on Saturday. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.