Ireland back row Jack Conan says a hangover from the British and Irish Lions tour “is not on anyone’s mind” before the Chicago rematch with New Zealand.
Andy Farrell’s Lions’ panel contained 18 Ireland players, but Leinster – who had a 14-strong contingent in Australia – have lost three out of four United Rugby Championship games this season.
Ireland will face New Zealand in Chicago on 1 November at Soldier Field, where the they famously defeated the All Blacks for the first time in 2016.
“I don’t think it’s a thing myself,” said Conan when asked if he had any worries about a lingering hangover for Ireland from the Lions tour.
“I don’t think anyone could say that Tadhg Beirne has had a Lions malaise or however you put it. Over the weekend [in Munster’s 31-14 win over Leinster] he was fantastic.
“Obviously things didn’t go right for the Leinster lads against Munster the other day but there was still some good performances in there.
“It’s not something that is on anyone’s mind. I think the lads will be fresh and ready to go. There will be no lack of motivation for next week or the coming weeks.”
Conan missed the Munster defeat with a “niggle” but could make his first appearance of the season in Chicago against New Zealand.
As a large number of Ireland’s internationals were away with the Lions in the summer, the last time a full-strength Irish side played together was in March’s Six Nations finale in Italy.
In that time, New Zealand have played nine matches and narrowly missed out on winning the Rugby Championship – and Conan says Farrell’s side will be ready to face the All Blacks despite the lack of international minutes.
“It’s unacceptable in this environment to have any excuses for not performing well,” Conan said.
“There’s no excuses. It’s great to be over here now to have the time to train together without the distraction of travel.
“We’ll prep really well for next week. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.”
