RUGBY WORLD CUP: Ireland v Russia, Pool C

25.09.2011

Venue: Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Preview
Predictably Irish coach Declan Kidney has rested key players after the important 15-6 win over Australia last weekend. He has handed Leo Cullen the captaincy and it is expected that Ireland, even if they don’t fire like they did last weekend, will have too much grunt for Russia.

Russia has also rested players. The weather looks a bit dodgy in Rotorua. If anything it will reduce the amount of damage the Irish will do.

Previous Encounter
21.09.2002 Ireland 35-3 in Krasnoyarsk (WCQ Europe R4, Pool A)

Ireland This World Cup
11.09.2011 v USA W 22-10 in New Plymouth
17.09.2011 v Australia W 15-6 in Auckland

Russia This World Cup (Their first)
15.09.2011 v USA L 6-13 in New Plymouth
20.09.2011 v Italy L 17-53

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Ireland 2nd, Russia 20th
Europe Table-Ireland 3rd, Russia 11th

IRB Ranking Points
Ireland 82.40, Russia 60.54

Prediction: Ireland by 65 points

Teams

Ireland
15 Robert Kearney, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Patrick Wallace, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien,
6 Donnacha Ryan, 5 Leo Cullen, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Anthony Buckley, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements
16 Rory Best, 17 Michael Ross, 18 Denis Leamy, 19 Shane Jennings, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Geordan Murphy.
Head Coach: Declan Kidney

Russia
15 Vasily Artemyev, 14 Denis Simplikevich, 13 Andrey Kuzin, 12 Sergey Trishin, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Konstantin Rachkov, 9 Alexander Yanyushkin,Capt.
8 Victor Gresev, 7 Andrey Garbuzov, 6 Artem Fatakhov, 5 Adam Byrnes, 4 Denis Antonov, 3 Alexander Khrokin, 2 Valery Tsnobiladze, 1 Sergey Popov.
Replacements
16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Ivan Prishchepenko, 18 Alexey Travkin, 19 Alexander Voytov, 20 Andrey Bykanov, 21 Mikhail Sidorov, 22 Mikhail Babaev.
Head Coach: Nik Nerush