Conor Murray declares that Ireland have removed the roadblock to beat the All Blacks ahead of their World Cup quarter-final clash.
Murray, 30, missed last November's second win over the world champs but played a starring role in the first-ever one in Chicago two years earlier.
Now, with Joe Schmidt picking a side full of players who have beaten the All Blacks, Murray claims the belief is there to topple the world's top team in Tokyo on Saturday.
Murray admitted: "With the record we had against New Zealand, there was always that doubt - how do you get past that roadblock that is beating the All Blacks?
"You have a certain amount of confidence then just getting past that roadblock, that's how I'd describe it.
"It's a massive boost of confidence. It shows you that they're human, it just gives you that massive self-belief that you might have been restricted by the record that was there, that we hadn't beaten them.
"To go on and do it again with the Lions in New Zealand - and then, for the majority of the squad to do it in November, it just gives you that extra purpose and reason to feel good about yourselves.
"I'm really excited about this game. There's just a sense that you want to perform as well as you can.
"These are really rare occasions that you get to do this - especially against the All Blacks in a World Cup quarter-final.
"And we need to have a good bit of confidence about us, because we've done it before. A majority of lads have done it in the green of Ireland.
"You just don't want to be restricted, you want to just go for it".
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