There is no greater challenge in the rugby world than facing New Zealand at Eden Park. Since 1994, they have gone undefeated in a staggering 52 consecutive Test matches at their spiritual home.The last time New Zealand lost at Eden Park, Bill Clinton was in the White House, Taylor Swift was a five-year-old singing into her hairbrush, Schindler’s List had won the Oscar for best picture and Jack Charlton was the Ireland manager at the 1994 World Cup.It was that long ago that it was illegal to lift jumpers in the lineout.Over the last three decades, Eden Park has turned into rugby’s Mount Olympus. A place where mortals from the outside world simply cannot overcome the seemingly demigod-like powers of the locals.For New Zealanders, Eden Park represents something far greater than a rugby venue. This architecturally insignificant structure has become a national citadel. It holds the myths of invincibility that surround the famous black jersey that New Zealanders want to believe are still true.There is truth mixed with this mythology. An unbeaten 52 games leaves no doubt that Eden Park enhances the performance of the home side and is a major psychological hurdle for the visitor.Of course, part of believing in anything involves a degree of arrogance. The Kiwis dismiss their home series loss to Ireland in 2022 as a fluke. A historical speed bump in their century-long domination of Ireland.When Ireland finally broke their drought of 27 consecutive defeats and recorded their first few wins over New Zealand, they produced their own slice of arrogance. Ireland proudly announced to the world that the famous black jersey had lost its aura of invincibility. Little old Ireland told the New Zealanders they were no longer the big kids on the block.Ireland celebrate after beating New Zealand at the Sky Stadium, Wellington, in 2022. Photograph: Billy Stickland/INPHO It was a strategy straight out of Donald Trump’s diplomatic relations playbook, with zero consideration for the obvious reaction that would come from insulting New Zealand’s most sacred symbol.Since that time, New Zealand have won the last three encounters against Ireland, including eliminating them from the 2023 Rugby World Cup at the quarter-final stage, and have once again settled into the comfortable rhythm of consistently defeating those in green.If you think Eden Park has been randomly chosen as the venue for Ireland’s first match in New Zealand since they won the 2022 series, then you still believe in the tooth fairy. The Kiwis are planning a very public sacrificial act on rugby’s greatest altar.The recently installed head coach Dave Rennie and his assistant coaches have stated publicly that they are focusing on the importance of coaching excellent technique. Which is something I totally agree with.Join our Irish Times Rugby WhatsApp communityGet the best of our writing in the Irish Times rugby community (©INPHO/Henry Simpson/©INPHO/Henry Simpson) Join our Irish Times Rugby WhatsApp community and get our best rugby writing sent directly to your messages inbox. From provincial news to coverage of Ireland’s inaugural Nations Championship campaign, you won’t miss an update. Join here: https://chat.whatsapp.com/DaV5S7cDxWF0xDDILjarcwTechnical coaching has been disastrously neglected across many parts of the rugby world, because so many coaches are wrongly focused on the social media fashion of trying to create culture without cultivating technical skill. Which is like opening a cake shop without knowing how to bake cakes. This deeply flawed philosophy has destroyed Australian rugby’s ability to produce world-class outhalves and has also begun to infiltrate and damage New Zealand rugby.Put simply, technical excellence provides the players with the tools to do their job. In 2015, when New Zealand combined their technical brilliance with ruthless aggression, inside a collaborative culture, the black jersey dominated the globe.This New Zealand coaching team has distanced themselves from the marketing fairy tales that spin the lie that their teams win games because they sweep the floor of their change room after a match.Dave Rennie talks to Quinn Tupaea during the captain's run in Wellington. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images The new management has a more traditional Kiwi approach. By all means, tidy up the change room post game, but make sure you have well and truly kicked your opponents’ arses beforehand.In the away change room, Ireland appear to be bone tired. They are playing like a team counting down the days until this ridiculously overly long season is finally done. No matter the score at full-time at Eden Park, the Irish players will understandably breathe a sigh of relief when it is finally over.Following a Lions tour that started more than a year ago, Ireland have spluttered through the autumn internationals and the Six Nations. Toss in long Champions Cup and URC campaigns for much of the squad and you can understand why Ireland’s energy levels in mid July are depleted. In the opening two rounds of the Nations Championship, the precision, pace, tempo and aggression displayed by New Zealand have been several levels above what Ireland has been able to muster.After a disjointed win over Japan, there was far too much cheerleading for the newly capped players and not enough analytical criticism of how poorly Ireland attacked a weak Japanese defence.Conversely, the Brave Blossoms’ attack asked very few questions of an Irish defensive structure that the Wallabies had found so easy to penetrate. Eden Park could quickly descend into a blowout if Ireland do not lift both the intensity of their tackling and the quality of their defensive organisation.[ Gordon D’Arcy: Whatever the All Blacks result, let’s avoid the error of wishful thinkingOpens in new window ]Ireland are hoping they can reignite the energy they displayed at Twickenham during this year’s Six Nations, when they delivered a display of courageous attack and inspirational defence to record a spectacular upset win over England.The major flaw with that Irish theory is that hope is not a strategy for success. Especially at Eden Park.On July 3rd, 1994, Jean-Luc Sadourny scored a glorious French try, which became known as “the try from the end of the world”. It ranks just behind Gareth Edwards’s immortal diving effort for the 1973 Barbarians as one of the greatest tries ever scored in the history of our game. That was the last time New Zealand tasted defeat at Eden Park.Ireland will require several similar acts of unparalleled skill, courage and teamwork to overcome a revitalised New Zealand at their spiritual home.While nothing in rugby is impossible, the evidence suggests that at full-time, the Kiwis will have exacted their revenge, the Irish players will finally be unshackled from the longest year of their professional lives and the mythology of Eden Park will endure into the future.