WXV1 Head-To-Head: New Zealand v Ireland

Vancouver’s BC Place is the venue for only the third ever Women’s Test match between Ireland and New Zealand, as Scott Bemand’s side make their much-anticipated WXV1 debut (kick-off 7pm local time/3am Irish time – live on RugbyPass TV/BBC iPlayer).

WXV1 – ROUND 1:

Sunday, September 29 –

NEW ZEALAND v IRELAND, BC Place, Vancouver, 7pm local time/3am Irish time (live on RugbyPass TV/BBC iPlayer)

NEW ZEALAND: Renee Holmes (Chiefs Manawa/Waikato); Ruby Tui (Chiefs Manawa/Counties Manukau), Logo-i-Pulotu Lemapu-Atai’i (Sylvia) Brunt (Blues/Auckland), Amy du Plessis (Matatū/Canterbury), Katelyn Vahaakolo (Blues/Auckland); Ruahei Demant (Blues/Auckland) (co-capt), Maia Joseph (Matatū/Otago); Marcelle Parkes (Matatū/Canterbury), Atlanta Lolohea (Matatū/Canterbury), Amy Rule (Matatū/Canterbury), Chelsea Bremner (Chiefs Manawa/Canterbury), Maiakawanakaulani Roos (Blues/Auckland), Layla Sae (Hurricanes Poua/Manawatū), Kennedy Tukuafu (nee Simon) (Chiefs Manawa/Waikato) (co-capt), Liana Mikaele-Tu’u (Blues/Auckland).

Replacements: Luka Connor (Chiefs Manawa/Bay of Plenty), Chryss Viliko (Blues/Auckland), Tanya Kalounivale (Chiefs Manawa/Waikato), Alana Bremner (Matatū/Canterbury), Lucy Jenkins (Matatū/Canterbury), Iritana Hohaia (Hurricanes Poua/Taranaki), Hannah King (Hurricanes Poua), Mererangi Paul (Chiefs Manawa/Counties Manukau).

IRELAND: Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC); Eimear Considine (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC/Munster), Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC/Munster); Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster); Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Dorothy Wall (Exeter Chiefs/Munster), Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster), Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht) (capt), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster).

Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney (Exeter Chiefs), Siobhán McCarthy (Gloucester-Hartpury/Munster), Andrea Stock (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby), Grace Moore (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby), Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC), Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC), Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC), Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC).

Referee: Sara Cox (England)

HEAD-TO-HEAD

2014-2016 | Played 2 | New Zealand 1 | Ireland 1 | Drawn 0
Points for: New Zealand 52/Ireland 25 (Average score: 26-13)
Highest score: New Zealand 38 (38-8 on November 27, 2016)/Ireland 17 (17-14 on August 5, 2014)
Biggest winning margin: New Zealand 30 (38-8 on November 27, 2016)/Ireland 3 (17-14 on August 5, 2014)

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

2014: Rugby World Cup Pool B: New Zealand 14 Ireland 17, FFR Centre National du Rugby, Marcoussis
2016: November Series: Ireland 8 New Zealand 38, UCD Bowl

• This is their first meeting in eight years, since New Zealand ran out 38-8 winners in Dublin
• Portia Woodman-Wickliffe scored a hat-trick that day at the UCD Bowl, with Selica Winiata crossing twice and Kelly Brazier once
• Ireland’s try came when they were 38-3 down in the final minute through Niamh Kavanagh after an assist from Sene Naoupu
• The Ireland Women became the first Irish national team to beat New Zealand in international rugby when they triumphed 17-14 in the 2014 Rugby World Cup’s pool phase in France
• Heather O’Brien and Alison Miller scored Ireland’s tries in the famous victory, with Niamh Briggs converting both and then kicking a 70th-minute penalty which turned out to be the match winner after Kelly Brazier had levelled just five minutes earlier
• This is the only pool match that the New Zealand Women have lost at a Rugby World Cup, and it ended a run of 20 consecutive wins in the tournament dating back to a semi-final loss to the USA in 1991

DID YOU KNOW?

Only two members of the current Ireland squad – Cliodhna Moloney and Nicole Fowley – played the last time the teams met eight years ago, while there are no survivors from New Zealand’s class of 2016.

NEW ZEALAND IN 2024

Played 5, Won 3, Drawn 0, Lost 2 (World Rugby Ranking: 2)

May 11, 2024: World Rugby Pacific Four Series – Won 57-5 v USA, FMG Stadium, Hamilton
May 19, 2024: World Rugby Pacific Four Series – Lost 22-19 v Canada, Apollo Projects Stadium, Christchurch
May 25, 2024: World Rugby Pacific Four Series/Laurie O’Reilly Cup – Won 67-19 v Australia, North Harbour Stadium, Albany
July 14, 2024: Laurie O’Reilly Cup – Won 62-0 v Australia, Ballymore, Brisbane
September 14, 2024: End-Of-Year Tour – Lost 24-12 v England, Allianz Stadium, Twickenham

NEW ZEALAND TEAM NOTES

• New Zealand lost their World Rugby Pacific Four Series crown back in May when they finished as runners-up to Canada
• New Zealand surrendered the title when they lost to Canada for the first time in history. The 22-19 defeat also ended their seven-match winning run in the competition
• New Zealand enjoyed big wins either side of the loss, triumphing 57-5 against the USA and 67-19 against Australia
• Australia were beaten for a second time, losing 62-0 in the Laurie O’Reilly Cup second leg in July, before the Black Ferns warmed up for WXV1 with a 24-12 defeat to England at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham two weeks ago
• New Zealand trailed 19-0 but rallied in the second half to score two tries through winger Katelyn Vahaakolo
• Vahaakolo extended her try-scoring run to nine matches with the brace in London
• She is the joint leading try-scorer in Women’s Test rugby this year with 10, alongside England’s Ellie Kildunne, having added six tries in New Zealand’s last two outings, to the four she managed in the Pacific Four Series
• The winger became the second Black Ferns player to score four tries in a match in 2024 in the 62-0 Laurie O’Reilly Cup win over Australia in Brisbane. Mererangi Paul also claimed a four-try haul in May against the USA in the Pacific Four Series
• New Zealand have not conceded a single point in the final quarter of their last three matches
• The Black Ferns have scored 60% of their points in the first half of matches in 2024 (131/217)
• New Zealand have not received a yellow card in their three games since the defeat to Canada, when Sylvia Brunt and Aldora Itunu were sent to the sin bin
• New Zealand finished fourth at the inaugural WXV1 tournament last year, having won just the one game – 70-7 against Wales in their second match
• The Black Ferns suffered an 18-17 defeat to France in their opening fixture, and then lost 33-12 to England in the tournament finale
• New Zealand were the second highest points scorers with 99, including 16 tries
• However, they left a lot of points out there having kicked only nine of their 17 shots at goal (52.9%)
• New Zealand were the only team to top 500 carries in the tournament (501), and were also ranked first for offloads (49), line breaks (39), and tackle breaks (110)
• New Zealand averaged just 11.7 kicks per match in open play. Every other team kicked 18 times or more
• As the side with the most possession, New Zealand had to make the fewest tackles (143 per match)
• New Zealand conceded a tournament-low 21 penalties and were the only team not to receive a yellow card, although they did get one of the three reds (Liana Mikaele-Tu’u against the USA)

IRELAND IN 2024

Played 6, Won 3, Drawn 0, Lost 3 (World Rugby Ranking: 7)

March 23, 2024: Guinness Women’s Six Nations – Lost 38-17 v France, Stade Marie-Marvingt, Le Mans
March 31, 2024: Guinness Women’s Six Nations – Lost 27-21 v Italy, RDS Arena, Dublin
April 13, 2024: Guinness Women’s Six Nations – Won 36-5 v Wales, Virgin Media Park, Cork
April 20, 2024: Guinness Women’s Six Nations – Lost 88-10 v England, Twickenham Stadium, London
April 27, 2024: Guinness Women’s Six Nations – Won 15-12 v Scotland, Kingspan Stadium, Belfast
September 14, 2024: IRFU 150th Year Match – Won 36-10 v Australia, Kingspan Stadium, Belfast

IRELAND TEAM NOTES

• Ireland are set for their first appearance in WXV1, having qualified for the top level of the competition by virtue of their third place finish in the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations
• Ireland won the WXV3 title last year so are stepping up two levels as a tangible sign of the progress made in the last year under head coach Scott Bemand
• Ireland recovered from going 10-0 down, in the decisive match against Spain at the inaugural WXV3, to secure a narrow 15-13 victory and the trophy
• Ireland scored 188 points and only conceded 16 points at WXV3, having begun their campaign – and Bemand’s coaching reign – with a record 109-0 win over Kazakhstan
• It was Ireland’s biggest ever score and try haul (17) in a Women’s or Men’s 15s Test match, and comfortably beat the team’s previous record victory of 73-3 against Scotland when they clinched the 2015 Women’s Six Nations title
• Their other victory on the way to the title was 64-3 against Colombia
• Ireland go into WXV1 having made it three wins from their last four games by beating Australia 36-10 in the recent Belfast clash which kicked off Irish Rugby’s 150th Year celebrations
• Flanker Aoife Wafer capped a player-of-the-match performance with a couple of tries
• Aoife Dalton, the returning Eimear Considine, Eve Higgins, and Cliodhna Moloney also got on the scoresheet at the home of Ulster Rugby
• Ireland finished third in this year’s Women’s Six Nations having been at the bottom of the table in 2023, although one of their three defeats was a record 88-10 loss to England
• Ireland scored 65% of their points (65/99) and conceded 66% (95/170) of their points in the second half of matches during the Championship
• Two penalty tries were awarded in the Women’s Six Nations – both to Ireland
• Ireland had the best goal-kicking success rate with 87% of their kicks (13/15) going through the posts
• They made an average of 175.8 tackles per match but missed the most (136 over the course of the Championship)
• Ireland had the best discipline in conceding just 8.4 penalties per match and receiving one yellow card
• Having followed up their 15-12 win over Scotland in the final round of the Six Nations with the victory over Australia, Ireland are now bidding to win three consecutive Tests against top 10-ranked opposition for the first time since 2017 (wins over Italy, France, and Wales)
• World Rugby coach intern Maz Reilly has joined the Ireland coaching set-up as part of the Gallagher High Performance Academy linked to the WXV competition

NEW ZEALAND COACH NOTES

• Allan Bunting took charge of the Black Ferns for the first time against Australia in June 2023, following his appointment as director of rugby that February
• He succeeded Wayne Smith, who led the team to Rugby World Cup glory on home soil, having been Black Ferns manager of culture and leadership during that campaign
• He has a record of P12, W8, L4 in charge of the New Zealand 15s team, although three of the four defeats having come on home soil against Canada, England, and France
• Bunting also coached the Chiefs Manawa to the inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki title in 2022
• He previously coached the New Zealand Women’s Sevens side from 2016 to 2021, leading them to Rugby World Cup Sevens and Commonwealth Games gold medals in 2018, Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020, and HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series titles in 2016/17, 2018/19, and 2019/20

IRELAND COACH NOTES

• Former scrum half Scott Bemand joined the IRFU on a three-year contract in August 2023, and began by leading the team to success at the WXV3 tournament in Dubai
• He has a record of P9, W6, L3, with the defeats coming away to England and France, and at home to Italy, in the Women’s Six Nations
• During his eight years with England as lead coach, the Red Roses won six Women’s Six Nations titles (including five Grand Slams), were runners-up at two Rugby World Cups, and achieved the number one world ranking
• Bemand played professionally for Leicester Tigers, Harlequins, and Bath