Ireland make eleven changes to face Samoa
Ireland have made eleven changes for their crucial Pool A decider versus Samoa on Saturday at the World Cup. Joe Schmidt’s side defeated Russia in their last outing in Kobe with a largely second-string selection, but he has now recalled most of his big guns for a match in Fukuoka that Ireland must win with a bonus point to guarantee their place in the quarter-finals.
Among the 11 changes is the first taste of World Cup 2019 for Robbie Henshaw whose participation in the tournament was threatened by a hamstring injury suffered on the training ground eight days before Ireland opened the finals with a comprehensive win over Scotland.
The midfielder also sat out the subsequent shock loss to host nation Japan and the scratchy winning performance versus the Russians, but he is now in line to play his first match since the September 7 warm-up win in Dublin over Wales.
Henshaw is one of four changes in the backline to face the Samoans. Jordan Larmour comes in at full-back for Rob Kearney, whom coach Schmidt insisted was almost ready for selection.
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Keith Earls switches to right wing to accommodate Jacob Stockdale’s recall on the left, with Andrew Conway dropping to the bench, while Conor Murray returns at scrum-half in place of benched Luke McGrath to partner Johnny Sexton.
The pack shows near wholesale changes from the last outing with only Tadhg Beirne keeping his place, albeit with a positional switch. He moves from the second row to blindside in a back row that also features Josh van der Flier and CJ Stander.
The Irish front five is along expected lines with Cian Healy, skipper Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong comprising a front row backed up by locks Iain Henderson and James Ryan.
Typhoon Hagibis could cause the other Pool A clash, Scotland against Japan, to be cancelled on Sunday. That would leave Ireland unable to top the group but still capable of quarter-final qualification.
Schmidt insisted Ireland must treat this week as normal, with a doubtless physical clash with Samoa ahead. “Rob ran in training Thursday but was a little bit slow to pick up in the week, as was Peter O’Mahony and Rhys Ruddock,” he said.
“We’re not really having too many conversations with World Rugby, for us it’s business as usual. There is a distraction, there was a lot of talk among the players at training today but we can’t let that affect us.
“Any time anything is unknown you get players who are going to talk about it. But we’ve got to make sure the game gets finished with the right result for us.”
Samoa, meanwhile, have made two changes to the starting XV which played against Japan. Prop Logovii Mulipola replaces Jordan Lay at loosehead. Lay moves to the bench where he replaces his brother James. Second row Teofilo Paulo comes in for Piula Faasalele, who also moves to the bench.
IRELAND: J Larmour; K Earls, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Stockdale; J Sexton, C Murray; C Healy, R Best, T Furlong, I Henderson, James Ryan, T Beirne, J van der Flier, CJ Stander. Replacements: N Scannell, D Kilcoyne, A Porter, J Kleyn, P O’Mahony, L McGrath, J Carbery, A Conway.
SAMOA: Tim Nanai-Williams; Ah See Tuala, Alapati Leiua, Henry Taefu, Ed Fidow; Ulupano Seuteni, Dwayne Polataivao; Logovii Mulipola, Seilala Lam, Michael Alaalatoa, Teofilo Paulo, Kane Le’aupepe, Chris Vui, TJ Ioane, Jack Lam (capt). Replacements: Ray Niuia, Paul Alo-Emile, Jordan Lay, Piula Faasalele, Josh Tyrell, Pele Cowley, Tusi Pisi, Kieron Fonotia.
WATCH: Scotland coach Gregor Townsend on their 61-0 win over Russia
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
41 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
41 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
41 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments