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The 'type of anxiety' surrounding Ireland ahead of final warm-up
Ireland captain Iain Henderson has urged his country’s Rugby World Cup hopefuls to set aside any lingering anxiety about selection and play their way into Andy Farrell’s final squad.
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Head coach Farrell will reveal his 33-man group for the tournament on Sunday afternoon in Dublin, having decided to bring forward the announcement by 24 hours.
Players have one final chance to secure a return ticket to France during Saturday evening’s warm-up clash with Samoa in Bayonne, with six set to suffer disappointment.
Ulster lock Henderson, who is preparing for his third World Cup, admits tension has increased in camp ahead of the looming cut. “Close to half the squad haven’t been in this position before,” said the 31-year-old.
“What the players are focusing on is how they are going to put their best foot forward for Andy to get a good glimpse of them. He knows each one of us pretty intimately at this stage and I feel that the final step that the players can take is to actually go out and show it again in the Test match this weekend.
“There is a type of anxiety there but the players are well used to being put in sticky situations, selections for cup finals, selections for tours, selections for Six Nations games. Obviously, this one carries a slightly different weight but we are a really tight-knit group, the guys who are feeling probably the worst about it are probably the best supported.”
Farrell has regularly insisted all 33 places in his squad remain up for grabs. Yet, in reality, only a few spots appear undecided, leaving a handful of peripheral players battling it out. It is unclear whether the Englishman will go for a 19/14 split of forwards and backs, or opt for 18/15.
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The former would likely mean Stuart McCloskey and Keith Earls, who are set to start against Samoa at Stade Jean Dauger, and Jacob Stockdale and Ciaran Frawley, who will not be involved, are competing for one spot.
Hookers Dan Sheehan and Ronan Kelleher, number eight Jack Conan and prop Dave Kilcoyne each have injury problems, albeit Farrell has been upbeat on those issues.
“Everyone is looking after each other and ensuring whoever is left out will feel as little left out as possible,” said Henderson. “I feel that the guys really do look out for each other and there is a genuine care for how each other is feeling.”
Ireland’s World Cup campaign starts against Romania on September 9 in Bordeaux. Their weekend clash with Samoa is the first meeting between the sides since the Irish won 47-5 at the 2019 tournament in Japan.
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“This is their pre-World Cup campaign, similar to ours, coming to a crescendo,” said Henderson. “It’s an exciting time for them, looking to have a shot at us.
“We are looking to play the game we like to play. They pose huge threats, they are definitely a different animal from the last time we played them.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Who listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
40 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.
40 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.
39 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.
1 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 commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
40 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to comments