Former Ireland number eight Jamie Heaslip has said that playing in Ireland’s maiden win over New Zealand at Chicago’s Soldier Field was like playing in a Colosseum.
Heaslip played the full 80 minutes in front of 62,300 people as Ireland snapped a 28 game winless streak against the All Blacks in November 2016.
Heaslip listed the victory as one of his career highlights alongside Leinster’s 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final win over Munster as well as their 2011 Heineken Cup final win over Northampton.
“There’s so many different moments,” said Heaslip on the Fox Sports Rugby podcast.
“People ask me is it the big wins but it’s the whole thing. The whole experience is just such a ride.
“To go from 2006 and losing a semi-final to Munster in Lansdowne Road where 80% of the crowd where wearing red; there were Leinster fans wearing red jerseys, there were Leinster fans who sold their tickets, I actually know Leinster players who sold their tickets to Munster fans.
“To turn that tide around and then in 2009 the crowd is 50-50 in Croke Park. There’s 80,000 people watching the game in the grounds and we beat them out of the gate and then we go on and now we have four stars on the jersey and we’ve five domestic titles. The whole thing is an experience.
“Then you think of different games that just pop out. There’s the game against Northampton where everyone wrote us off at half-time and we came back and we won it. The game against Clermont in the semi-final the following year is probably the toughest games I’ve ever played in my life in Leinster colours.
“Then internationally there’s so many of them. Winning back-to-back Six Nations titles. Winning the Grand Slam for the first time in god knows how long [61 years] but the New Zealand game in Chicago was special for me because I had played them like nine or ten times at that stage.
“We’d come very, very close twice. Once in Christchurch and then once in Dublin. To be the best you always have to go up against the best and it’s a fair argument to say that they’re the best in the world right now and have been for a long time. They’ve been the dominant side.
“To be able to go to Chicago and be able to do that in what was the first game at that kind of level, to play in a stadium like that which was like [playing in] a Colosseum, it really is, it’s not like any other rugby stadium I’ve been in because the seats don’t go all the way down to the pitch.
“There’s a two or three metre barrier around the whole ground and everyone kind of starts at that height and then goes up really high.
“I’m a big NFL fan as well so that was kind of sweet.”
Heaslip believes that Ireland’s cohesiveness and Six Nations form will make them the favourites for the three-test series with the Wallabies.
“In the Six Nations they were the dominant side,” added Heaslip.
“They were the side that made the least amount of mistakes in games. They were so clinical, so ruthless and I think the opposition let them down at times and made it look better than it really was but they were the best side in the Six Nations.
“That’s the thing with Ireland; they’re so clinical, so dominant and that’s the way Joe [Schmidt] plays. He controls the controlables and everyone knows their job and they do their job.
“I think he’s created a squad that really has a lot of competition in it. Obviously it’s dominated by Leinster players because of the success they’re having which gives a bit of cohesiveness to it.
“The Super Rugby teams aren’t exactly going fantastic in Australia right now so they have to get out of that groove and get into Australia mode and into international mode.
“Ireland will have a bit of time with each other already. They will have time this week with each other. Their travelling at the tail end of this week and they’ll have a full week of training down there which just goes to show you they’re not getting they’re at the start of the week; they’re hitting the ground running from Monday
“They’re putting a lot of effort into this and I’d say they want to go for it and I’d say they’re favourites.”
Ireland take on Australia in the first Test match in Brisbane on June 9.
