Opta Match Facts Preview: Ireland v Russia

Opta bring you all the team and player facts you need as the build-up continues to Ireland’s Rugby World Cup encounter with Russia in Kobe on Thursday (kick-off 7.15pm local time/11.15am Irish time).

IRELAND v RUSSIA – TEAM FORM & FACTS:

– Ireland and Russia have met twice previously in international rugby, with Ireland clinching victories by margins of 32 points and 50 points in those two encounters in 2002 and 2011 respectively

– Ireland’s 62-12 victory over Russia at the 2011 Rugby World Cup remains their second biggest win at the tournament, surpassed only by a 64-7 triumph over Namibia in 2003

– After losing to Japan, Ireland are out to avoid back-to-back defeats in the competition for the first time since their final two pool games of the 2007 Rugby World Cup

– Ireland’s 19-12 loss to Japan in their last game snapped a 44-game unbeaten streak against non-tier one opposition in international rugby (W43, D1, last defeat v Samoa in 1996). They had won those 43 games by an average margin of 33 points per game

– Russia remain on the hunt for their maiden Rugby World Cup win, with this being their seventh game at the tournament. Only Namibia (21) have played more Rugby World Cup games and not registered a victory

– Russia come into this match on the back of a three-game losing streak. The last time they lost more in succession was a five-game stretch from June to November in 2013

IRELAND – PLAYER NOTES:

– Sean Cronin started the match when Ireland faced Russia in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, his only ever start in the tournament (six appearances) and one of just 10 starts from 70 appearances for Ireland in total

– Rob Kearney has crossed for a try in four of his last five appearances at the Rugby World Cup, as well as touching down against Russia in his only previous outing against them in September 2011

– Since 1954 Ireland have only been captained by their out-half on six occasions, David Humphreys doing so five times between 2002 and 2005, and Ronan O’Gara once in 2008

– 17 points would see Jonathan Sexton (54) leapfrog Ralph Keyes (68) and David Humphreys (70) as Ireland’s second top points scorer in Rugby World Cup history, behind Ronan O’Gara (93)

– CJ Stander (26/26) and Iain Henderson (21/21) have both not missed a tackle at the 2019 Rugby World Cup so far

RUSSIA – PLAYER NOTES:

– Captain Vasily Artemyev, Andrey Garbuzov and Vladimir Ostroushko are the only players to have featured in every one of Russia’s six Rugby World Cup games thus far, while Ostroushko (2) is one of only two Russians (Denis Simplikevich 2) to have scored multiple Rugby World Cup tries

– Igor Galinovskiy is set to win his 50th cap for Russia. He is Russia’s sixth top try scorer of all-time with 18 tries to his name. Despite making his debut in 2006, this will be his first Rugby World Cup appearance

– Vasily Artemyev has missed six tackles at the 2019 Rugby World Cup so far and four of those misses have directly led to tries being scored

– Eight of Ramil Gaisin’s last nine appearances for Russia have come from the bench, the exception to this being his appearance against Italy in a Rugby World Cup warm-up game in August

IRELAND & RUSSIA – RWC 2019 PLAYER STATISTICS:

POINTS SCORERS –

14 Yury Kushnarev
5 Andrew Conway, Garry Ringrose, James Ryan, Kirill Golosnitskiy, Rob Kearney, Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong, Jack Carty

TRY SCORERS –

1 Andrew Conway, Garry Ringrose, James Ryan, Kirill Golosnitskiy, Rob Kearney, Rory Best, Tadhg Furlong

GOAL-KICKING –

100% Yury Kushnarev (4 out of 4)
67% Jack Carty (2/3)
50% Jonathan Sexton (1/2)
33% Conor Murray (1/3)

CARRIES –

29 James Ryan
26 CJ Stander
21 Tagir Gadzhiev, Vitaly Zhivatov
19 Andrey Ostrikov, Chris Farrell
17 Garry Ringrose, Kirill Golosnitskiy, Nikita Vavilin
16 Iain Henderson, Vasily Artemyev

METRES MADE –

101 Jacob Stockdale
78 Jordan Larmour
73 Kirill Golosnitskiy
72 Chris Farrell, Garry Ringrose, Vasily Artemyev
60 CJ Stander
46 Keith Earls, Rob Kearney
44 German Davydov, Vladimir Ostroushko

CLEAN BREAKS –

4 Garry Ringrose, Rob Kearney
3 Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell
2 German Davydov, Jacob Stockdale, Jordan Larmour, Kirill Golosnitskiy, Vasily Dorofeev, Vladimir Ostroushko

DEFENDERS BEATEN –

8 Garry Ringrose
6 Kirill Golosnitskiy
5 German Davydov, Tagir Gadzhiev
4 Keith Earls, Vasily Dorofeev, Vladimir Ostroushko
3 Andrew Conway, Chris Farrell, Dimitry Gerasimov, Nikita Vavilin, Vasily Artemyev, Vitaly Zhivatov

OFFLOADS –

2 Garry Ringrose, Jacob Stockdale, Vasily Dorofeev
1 Andrey Garbuzov, Andrey Ostrikov, CJ Stander, Kirill Golosnitskiy, Nikita Vavilin, Peter O’Mahony, Ramil Gaisin, Rob Kearney, Rory Best, Stanislav Selskii, Valery Morozov

TRY ASSISTS –

2 Conor Murray, Jack Carty
1 Vasily Artemyev

TACKLES MADE –

31 (1 missed) James Ryan
30 (1) Josh van der Flier
26 (0) CJ Stander
24 (7) Andrey Ostrikov
22 (1) Chris Farrell
21 (0) Iain Henderson
19 (4) Kirill Gotovtsev
19 (5) Nikita Vavilin
19 (7) Tagir Gadzhiev
18 (6) Garry Ringrose
18 (2) Rory Best
18 (5) Vitaly Zhivatov

TURNOVERS WON –

4 Vasily Artemyev
2 Bundee Aki, German Davydov, Peter O’Mahony, Tagir Gadzhiev

LINEOUT THROWS –

90% Rory Best (21 throws out of 23)
85% Stanislav Selskii (13/15)
100% Evgeny Matveev (8/8)
100% Sean Cronin (2/2)

LINEOUTS WON –

10 (including 2 steals) James Ryan
6 (1) Andrey Ostrikov
4 Iain Henderson, Peter O’Mahony, Tagir Gadzhiev, Vitaly Zhivatov
3 Bogdan Fedotko
2 Andrey Garbuzov
1 Andrew Porter, CJ Stander, Rhys Ruddock, Tadhg Beirne

IRELAND v RUSSIA – SQUAD COMPARISONS:

Squad Average Age: Ireland 28 years 157 days / Russia 30 years 14 days
Starting XV Average Age: Ireland 29 years 109 days / Russia 30 years 130 days

Squad Average Height (cm): Ireland 186 / Russia 186
Starting XV Average Height (cm): Ireland 187 / Russia 185

Squad Average Weight (kg): Ireland 103 / Russia 101
Starting XV Average Weight (kg): Ireland 102 / Russia 99
Starting Forwards Total Weight (kg): Ireland 892 / Russia 857

Starting XV Caps: Ireland 533 / Russia 621
Replacement Caps: Ireland 261 / Russia 207