Ireland’s 2019 Rugby World Cup destiny is in their own hands as they prepare to run out in Fukuoka to face an already-eliminated Samoa side. The prize on offer for Joe Schmidt’s men is a Tokyo quarter-final next weekend against either South Africa or New Zealand.
RUGBY WORLD CUP – POOL A: Saturday, October 12
IRELAND (2nd) v SAMOA (4th), Fukuoka Hakatanamori Stadium, 7.45pm local time/11.45am Irish time (live eir Sport 1/RTÉ 2/UTV/ITV/RTÉ Radio 1/BBC Radio Ulster/BBC Radio 5 Live/IRFU Live Blog)
Team News: Robbie Henshaw is back to full fitness and will make his 2019 Rugby World Cup debut when Ireland play Samoa in today’s final Pool A game at Fukuoka Hakatanamori Stadium.
Henshaw returns from a hamstring injury for his first appearance since last month’s 19-10 warm-up win over Wales. He partners his former Connacht team-mate Bundee Aki, with the selected side showing eleven personnel changes from last week’s 35-0 victory over Russia in Kobe.
Aki, Keith Earls and Jonathan Sexton are retained in the back-line, while Tadhg Beirne moves from the second row to blindside flanker. Earls switches to the right wing, accommodating Jacob Stockdale’s selection on the left, and Jordan Larmour replaces Rob Kearney at full-back.
Sexton, who captained Ireland for the first time last Thursday, combines again with Conor Murray in a familiar and experienced half-back partnership, and that is also the case in the front row where Ulster’s Rory Best resumes as captain, packing down with props Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong.
Iain Henderson and James Ryan are set for their third World Cup start together in the second row, while Beirne’s inclusion on the blindside is the only change to the pack that started against both Scotland and Japan. Josh van der Flier and CJ Stander complete the back row, with vice-captain Peter O’Mahony providing back-up.
Joining O’Mahony on the bench are front rowers Niall Scannell, David Kilcoyne and Andrew Porter, lock Jean Kleyn and backs Luke McGrath, Joey Carbery and Andrew Conway. Carbery, who got a 20-minute cameo against Japan, was a late withdrawal before the Russia game.
Speaking about the team selection as Ireland look to seal a quarter-final place as the first or second-place finishers in Pool A, head coach Schmidt said: “Rob (Kearney) ran today, but was a little bit slow to pick up during the week, as was Peter O’Mahony, as was Rhys (Ruddock). And, so, we’ve gone with the guys who can give us the best preparation into the game.
“Guys like Garry Ringrose has been outstanding so far, but he’s played three sets of 80 minutes in just 11 days. You can’t expect people to keep on keeping on when that’s the case. Robbie (Henshaw) is fresh and we’re excited to have him in there. So it is a little bit about balancing the load as well, albeit in a huge game for us.
“Tadhg (Beirne) has been really solid, he’s been versatile for us. I thought he carried well against Russia, albeit the ball was more and more through the game a bar of soap, which made it very difficult.
“His ability to put pressure on the ball on the ground, his lineout work has been good – he gives us a little bit more height in the lineout. Defensively, he gets off the line well and he has trained really well. That’s probably the bit that people don’t see, but that does certainly have an influence in our eyes in making selection.”
He added: “I think there have been in elements in both of those – as you describe – sub-par performances (against Japan and Russia), where we’ve actually done some really positive stuff. We’ve just got to make sure that that is consistently delivered.
“We got ourselves into a bit of trouble in the Russian game, chasing that bonus point. Once we’d got the three tries, it took us about another 25 minutes before we got the next one, because we make some super line-breaks and then tried to score immediately.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to make sure, when you’re looking after the ball, that you can retain it and keep the pressure on, keep the squeeze on – and not maybe over-try, or try too hard.”
Meanwhile, for their final 2019 Rugby World Cup match, Samoa head coach Vaeluaga Steve Jackson has made two changes to the team that lost 38-19 to tournament hosts Japan in Toyota last Saturday.
Newcastle Falcons prop Logovi’i Mulipola returns on the loosehead side of the scrum and Filo Paulo of London Irish is included in the second row, with Jordan Lay and Piula Faasalele the players to make way.
Samoa sit on five points in Pool A and cannot reach the quarter-finals. This is their first meeting with Ireland since losing 40-9 at the Aviva Stadium in November 2013. Five players from that side are in Saturday’s matchday 23 – Mulipola, Paulo, captain Jack Lam, who is a cousin of former Connacht head coach Pat Lam, Alapati Leiua and Tusi Pisi.
A number of the Samoans play their club rugby in England and France, including the back row of Bristol duo Lam and Chris Vui and London Irish’s TJ Ioane. Centre Henry Taefu, who is attached to Western Force in Australia, scored all 19 of their points against Japan last weekend.
Speaking ahead of their final World Cup game in Fukuoka, Jackson said: “We’ve just told our players this is going to be the last time that this group will be together and we can’t go anywhere further in our pool than we are at the moment, so at the end of the day, we play for a bit of pride and we don’t have anything to lose, really.
“Ireland are in the top three teams in the world and we’re just going there to throw anything at it. I don’t think that the game is going to be won on penalties, I think we’ll see both teams trying to play an expansive kind of game and get as many tries as we possibly can.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen on Sunday, with the typhoon and the outcome of that. This is probably one of the biggest games that we could play and win, being ranked where we are and they are in the top five in the world, it’s going to be massive.
“We understand the climate that we’re living in but what better opportunity to finish the World Cup? Knowing that we’re on an airplane on Monday, going home, to have a scalp like that would be great.”
IRELAND: Jordan Larmour (St. Mary’s College/Leinster); Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht), Jacob Stockdale (Lurgan/Ulster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary’s College/Leinster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Rory Best (Banbridge/Ulster) (capt), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Queen’s University/Ulster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster).
Replacements: Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster), Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Jean Kleyn (Munster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster), Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster).
SAMOA: Tim Nanai-Williams (Clermont Auvergne); Ah See Tuala (Northampton Saints), Alapati Leiua (Bristol), Henry Taefu (Western Force), Ed Fidow (Worcester Warriors); Ulupano Seuteni (Bordeaux-Begles), Dwayne Polataivao (Doncaster Knights); Logovi’i Mulipola (Newcastle Falcons), Seilala Lam (Perpignan), Michael Alaalatoa (Crusaders), Filo Paulo (London Irish), Kane Le’aupepe (Hurricanes), Chris Vui (Bristol), TJ Ioane (London Irish), Jack Lam (Bristol) (capt).
Replacements: Ray Niuia (Highlanders), Paul Alo-Emile (Stade Francais), Jordan Lay (Bristol), Piula Faasalele (Toulouse), Josh Tyrell (Oyonnax), Pele Cowley (Ponsonby), Tusi Pisi (Toyota Industries Shuttles), Kieron Fonotia (Scarlets).
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (France), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
Television Match Official: Rowan Kitt (England)
Pre-Match Quotes: Rory Best (Ireland) –
To got into the last round of (pool) games with your fate in their our own hands, albeit after a loss that we didn’t want but it’s still under our control and that’s what we want.
“Bundee will face it the way he’s faced every other challenge. When we played New Zealand where he grew up and spent a lot of his life, he just played like the Irishman that he’s become. One thing you can never question about Bundee is how much he puts into a game.
“We’ll expect that from him, and after the game, I’m sure he’ll enjoy it and have a bit of craic with guys he grew up with and guys he knows very well. We know that Bundee’s going to produce a performance, we’re excited about players like him and Robbie (Henshaw) getting back together in the centre.”
Jack Lam (Samoa) –
For us as players, we want to leave with a bit of pride in the jersey. We still have a lot to play for, in terms of trying to qualify for the next Rugby World Cup and obviously for the future of rugby in Samoa.
“We’ve been together for a good eight weeks and it’s pretty much been my family for the last two months, a great family. We’ve had our ups and downs as any family would but we’ve managed to solve everything within our family and we’re still tight.
“We have no special presents for Bundee (Aki), he’ll get the same treatment as everyone else. Most of the boys are pretty close with him, a couple of boys have seen him during the week, so we are still friends off the field but when we cross the line we are exactly the same.”
Pre-Match Stats Preview:
Head-To-Head –
– Ireland and Samoa will meet for the seventh time. Ireland have won five of their six matches
– This is the first time that the two sides have met at a Rugby World Cup
– The only time Samoa have beaten Ireland was at the old Lansdowne Road in November 1996, when they stunned them 40-25
– Ireland have won the sides’ last four encounters by an average margin of 24 points. The last time they played Samoa was at the Aviva Stadium in 2013 when they won 40-9
Ireland –
– Ireland are looking for their third victory in the pool stages. They have beaten Scotland and Russia, and lost to Japan
– Ireland won all four of their pool matches at RWC 2011 and 2015. The last time they lost a pool game was at the 2007 tournament when they lost two
– Ireland have participated in all eight previous Rugby World Cups and made it past the pool stages in seven of the eight. Only in 2007 did they fail to reach the knockout phase
– Ireland make 11 changes to the team that started against Russia in their last match. Tadhg Beirne, who reverts to the back row, Jonathan Sexton, Bundee Aki and Keith Earls, who switches wings, retain their starting berths
– Rory Best captains Ireland for the 37th time, overtaking Keith Wood and moving into second place behind Brian O’Driscoll (83), who has captained Ireland the most in Test history
– Ireland’s front-row of Cian Healy, Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong have been selected together for the 16th time. This is a record for any front row in matches since RWC 2015 with the Irish trio moving ahead of France’s Jefferson Poirot, Guilhem Guirado and Rabah Slimani
– Jonathan Sexton and Conor Murray start together for Ireland for the 55th time, matching the all-time record for Ireland, set by Munster duo Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer between 2000 and 2015
– Rory Best plays his 14th Rugby World Cup match for Ireland. Only Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell (both 17) have played more times in the competition for Ireland
– Rory Best and Conor Murray are the only players in today’s starting XV who also started for Ireland in the 40-9 defeat of Samoa in November 2013, the last time the two teams met
Samoa –
– Samoa started their 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign with a 34-9 victory over Russia but have since lost 34-0 to Scotland and 38-19 to Japan
– All of Samoa’s jersey numbers, except for number 1, have scored at least one Rugby World Cup try
– Samoa have won two pool matches on five occasions. RWC 2007 and 2015 are the only two World Cups where they have failed to win more than one game
– Samoa have made two changes to the starting XV that played against Japan. Prop Logovi’i Mulipola replaces Jordan Lay at loosehead. Lay moves to the bench where he edges out his brother James. Second row Filo Paulo comes in for Piula Faasalele, who also drops down to the bench
– Samoa lost 40-9 to Ireland in November 2013. Five players from that team are in today’s matchday 23 – Mulipola, Paulo, captain Jack Lam and Alapati Leiua all started that match and start again today
– Tusi Pisi started the 2013 match, scoring six points, but is on the bench for the Fukuoka clash
– Tusi Pisi starts on the bench but, with 57 points in World Cups to his name, he can overtake current Samoan World Cup leading points scorer Silao Leaega (62) if he scores six points
– If Ed Fidow can repeat his two-try feat from the Russia match, he will become the joint-second most prolific try scorer for Samoa at Rugby World Cups with four tries
– Jack Lam captains Samoa for the third time in a World Cup match. His cousin Pat, the former Connacht head coach, captained the Samoa team in seven matches at the tournaments in 1995 and 1999
Pre-Match Links –
Head-To-Head: Ireland v Samoa
In Pics: Ireland Players Visit Kasuga Elementary School
In Pics: Ireland Captain’s Run In Fukuoka
Aki Embracing ‘Privilege To Play’ With A Humble Heart
Ireland Focused On Result – Best
Ryan: Bundee Really Leads In The Way He Plays
Ireland v Samoa Team Announcement Press Conference
Recent Meetings –
2010: GUINNESS Series: Ireland 20 Samoa 10, Aviva Stadium
2013: GUINNESS Series: Ireland 40 Samoa 9, Aviva Stadium
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