The girls line up l-r with flags from Russia, Italy, USA, Australia and UlsIreland!
With just over 10 days to go till it all kicks off in New Zealand we start our World Cup coverage with a review of Ireland and their opponents in Pool C.
As we go through the Pools we’ll point out any Ulster connections, past and present, highlight the teams likely to progress and pick out the key player for each side.
I’d also like to say a big, big thanks to the players from the Women’s clubs around the Province who have helped with our unique sliders that’ll go with these articles!
Pool C scores an Ulster Quotient of 15 with five current players and five past players in this group!
It can be no surprise that Ireland’s group has the highest number of Ulster players past and present involved. As well as the five current Ulster players in the Ireland squad there are a further five past Ulster players involved in the group with Bowe and Boss being the obvious former Ulsterarians but Italy feature our old friend Carlos Del Fava and the USA are still rolling out the much travelled Paul Emerick who is joined in the World Cup squad by recent ex Raven’s player Scot LaValla.
The Eagles also feature, someone who was oft regarded with a touch of antipathy by many Ulster supporters, ex Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan who took over as top man in USA Rugby in March 2009. The nature of O’Sullivan’s departure from the Ireland post certainly adds a touch of spice to Ireland’s opening Pool fixture with the USA expected to be fired up to say the least!
Pool C Fixtures.
| Date | Time (UK) | Match Details | Location | Stadium |
| Sun Sept 11 | 04.30 | Australia v Italy | Auckland | North Harbour Stadium |
| Sun Sept 11 | 07.00 | Ireland v USA | New Plymouth | Stadium Taranaki |
| Thu Sept 15 | 08.30 | Russia v USA | New Plymouth | Stadium Taranaki |
| Sat Sept 17 | 09.30 | Australia v Ireland | Auckland | Eden Park |
| Tue Sept 20 | 08.30 | Italy v Russia | Nelson | Trafalgar Park |
| Fri Sept 23 | 09.30 | Australia v USA | Wellington | Wellington Regional Stadium |
| Sun Sept 25 | 06.00 | Ireland v Russia | Rotorua | Rotorua International Stadium |
| Tue Sept 27 | 03.30 | Italy v USA | Nelson | Trafalgar Park |
| Sat Oct 1 | 03.30 | Australia v Russia | Nelson | Trafalgar Park |
| Sun Oct 2 | 08.30 | Ireland v Italy | Dunedin | Otago Stadium |
The fixtures look well set for Ireland and Australia to progress into the knock out rounds. Australia have Italy and Ireland first up and assuming they win both fixtures they can then relax against the USA and Russia while Ireland and Italy fight it out for what is likely to be the second place decider on October 2nd.
Ireland have their games evenly spaced with good recovery time between matches but as I said above they possibly face their most dangerous challenge in the “battle of the coaches” against the USA. I don’t think anyone will be underestimating the ferocity of the challenge with the US expected to come out with all guns blazing for the opening 20 but Ireland should prevail!
Assuming Ireland win against the USA, I expect that they’ll keep their powder dry for the game against Australia and will rest some of their key players and take a bit of a beating in the process. There should be more changes for the Russian game with no big names necessary as the dirt trackers will be expected to do the job to set up that all deciding match against the Italians.
It’ll be a feisty game but Ireland should edge it with the Italians running out of front line troops.
To Qualify: 1. Australia, 2. Ireland
Outsiders: Italy
Match of the Pool: Ireland v USA
Squads
| Australia | Ireland | Italy | Russia | USA |
| Forwards (17) | Forwards (16) | Forwards (16) | Forwards (17) | Forwards (16) |
| Ben McCalman | Rory Best | Martin Castrogiovanni | Denis Antonov | Inaki Basauri |
| Radike Samo | Tony Buckley | Lorenzo Cittadini | Vladimir Botvinnikov | Chris Biller |
| Wycliff Palu | Tom Court | Andrea Lo Cicero | Adam Byrnes | Todd Clever* |
| David Pocock | Sean Cronin | Salvatore Perugini | Artem Fatakhov | Pat Danahy |
| Rocky Elsom | Leo Cullen | Tommaso D’Apice | Andrey Garbuzov | Eric Fry |
| Scott Higginbotham | Stephen Ferris | Leonardo Ghiraldini | Viatcheslav Grachev | JJ Gagiano |
| James Horwill* | Jerry Flannery | Fabio Ongaro | Victor Gresev | Nic Johnson |
| Rob Simmons | Cian Healy | Marco Bortolami | Alexander Khrokin | Scott LaValla |
| Nathan Sharpe | Jamie Heaslip | Carlo Antonio del Fava | Vladislav Korshunov* | Mike MacDonald |
| Dan Vickerman | Denis Leamy | Quintin Geldenhuys | Evgenii Matveev | Brian McClenahan |
| Ben Alexander | Sean O’Brien | Cornelius van Zyl | Andrey Ostrikov | Mate Moeakiola |
| Sekope Kepu | Donncha O’Callaghan | Robert Barbieri | Sergey Popov | Shawn Pittman |
| James Slipper | Paul O’Connell | Mauro Bergamasco | Ivan Prishchepenko | Hayden Smith |
| Salesi Ma’afu | Mike Ross | Paul Derbyshire | Mikhail Sidorov | Louis Stanfill |
| Stephen Moore | Donnacha Ryan | Sergio Parisse* | Alexey Travkin | Phil Thiel |
| Saia Faingaa | Shane Jennings | Alessandro Zanni | Valeriy Tsnobiladze | John van der Giessen |
| Tatafu Polota-Nau | Alexander Voytov | |||
| Backs (13) | Backs (14) | Backs (14) | Backs (13) | Backs (14) |
| Kurtley Beale | Tommy Bowe | Pablo Canavosio | Vasily Artemyev | Paul Emerick |
| James O’Connor | Isaac Boss | Edoardo Gori | Mikhail Babaev | Tai Enosa |
| Drew Mitchell | Gordon D’Arcy | Fabio Semenzato | Andrey Bykanov | Colin Hawley |
| Digby Ioane | Keith Earls | Ricardo Bocchino | Igor Galinovskiy | Nese Malifa |
| Adam Ashley-Cooper | Rob Kearney | Luciano Orquera | Igor Klyuchnikov | Taku Ngwenya |
| Rob Horne | Fergus McFadden | Tommaso Benvenuti | Yury Kushnarev | James Paterson |
| Pat McCabe | Geordan Murphy | Mirco Bergamasco | Andrey Kuzin | Mike Petri |
| Anthony Faingaa | Conor Murray | Gonzalo Canale | Alexey Makovetskiy | Blaine Scully |
| Berrick Barnes | Brian O’Driscoll* | Gonzalo Garcia | Vladimir Ostroushko | Junior Sifa |
| Quade Cooper | Ronan O’Gara | Andrea Masi | Konstantin Rachkov | Andrew Suniula |
| Nick Phipps | Eoin Reddan | Luke McLean | Alexander Shakirov | Roland Suniula |
| Luke Burgess | Jonathan Sexton | Matteo Pratichetti | Denis Simplikevich | Kevin Swiryn |
| Will Genia | Andrew Trimble | Alberto Sgarbi | Alexander Yanyushkin | Tim Usasz |
| Paddy Wallace | Giulio Toniolatti | Chris Wyles |
Key Players.
Australia: Quade Cooper.
If he maintains his current form, and if he can be protected by his back row, the fantastically gifted Cooper can take Australia all the way to their third World Cup. Get in his face and he can go off the boil but Coopers biggest challenge may be in his own head.
Ireland: Brian O’Driscoll.
Once again Ireland’s hopes lie on the ageing, and battered shoulders, of Brian O’Driscoll. The most gifted player of his generation deserves some World Cup luck and if he can stay fit and rediscover his silky skills and bone hard tackling then O’Driscoll has the ability to drag Ireland all the way to the semi-finals.
Italy: Sergio Parisse.
Italians will be praying that the wonderfully athletic Parisse stays fit and brings with him the exciting plays of 2008 when he was in the running for the IRB International Player of the Year. An expert in the lineout and powerful off the base of a scrum, Italy need Parisse at the top of his game if they are to make an impact in the tournament.
Russia : Vasily Artmyev
There should be plenty in the Ireland side that know all about the Russian speedster as Artemyev’s representative honours include Leinster Schools, U19’s & U20’s, Irish Schools & Irish U’19’s. Leaving Dublin for Moscow in 2008 he has recently become the first Russian player to sign to play in the Aviva Premiership after agreeing terms with Northampton Saints starting next season.
USA: Taku Ngwenya
Taku Ngwenya made his mark in the 2007 Rugby World Cup with scintillating tries against South Africa and Samoa with the rugby world sitting up and taking note as he burned Habanna for pace in the SA match. Now with Biarritz, he offers so much more than sheer pace but the question remains as to how often he will get the ball?
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.