RWC Quarter Final Preview – Ireland vs New Zealand

Quarter Final 2 of RWC 2019 sees the Pool B winners facing the Pool A runners-up. New Zealand were undefeated in their pool while Ireland won three and lost one match. The All Blacks did not play last weekend due to the cancellation of their match against Italy.

Ireland Head Coach Joe Schmidt has named a familiar looking lineup. Of the starting players twelve were involved in last November’s win over New Zealand in Dublin.

Schmidt’s side features the return of fullback Rob Kearney and flanker Peter O’Mahony with Jordan Larmour and Tadhg Beirne dropping to the bench.

In the halves the combination of Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton will surpass the record of 55 tests together of Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara. They are to play inside a centers combination of Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose. New Zealand import Bundee Aki misses out following his red card suspension against Samoa.

In the forwards Rory Best will lead the side from hooker. He is to be joined by veterans Cian Healy, and Tadhg Furlong in the front-row. Iain Henderson, and James Ryan lock the scrum with Peter O’Mahony, and Josh Van der Flier starting on the side of the scrum and South African import CJ Stander playing N8.

Not included in the 23 at all is Jean Kleyn. The South African import was selected ahead of long-time serving second-rower Devin Toner for the tournament.

New Zealand Head Coach Steve Hansen has a fresh playing roster. The All Blacks officially competed to a 0-0 draw against Italy in their final pool match, a fixture cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis.

Kieran Read missed out on New Zealand’s most recent match. He is back to captain the side in his 125th cap. Read will join Ardie Savea and Sam Cane in the back-row.

Up front New Zealand have named the powerful yet mobile front-row combination of Joe Moody, 2 Codie Taylor, and Nepo Laulala. Locking the scrum will be Brodie Retallick, and Samuel Whitelock.

In the backs Beauden Barrett continues out of position at fullback. The selection comes with Richie Mo’unga continuing at fly half. Aaron Smith will play inside Mo’unga while Anton Lienert-Brown, and Jack Goodhue start in the mid-field and George Bridge, and Sevu Reece are to be the wingers.

There have been 31 prior test matches between Ireland and New Zealand. Ireland have 2 victories and New Zealand 28. The most recent fixture was Ireland’s 16-9 victory last November.

The respective RWC 2019 campaigns of Ireland and New Zealand underline the All Blacks as the firm favorites to win the Quarter Final. ARN predicts a New Zealand victory by 15 points.

 

IRELAND RWC 2019 RESULTS
W – Ireland 27-3 Scotland
L  – Ireland 12-19 Japan
W – Ireland 35-0 Russia
W – Ireland 47-5 Samoa

NEW ZEALAND RWC 2019 RESULTS
W – New Zealand 23-13 South Africa
W – New Zealand 71-9 Namibia
W – New Zealand 63-0 Canada
D – New Zealand 0-0 Italy

W – Win
L – Loss
D – Draw

TEAMS

IRELAND
1 Cian Healy, 2 Rory Best (capt.), 3 Tadhg Furlong, 4 Iain Henderson, 5 James Ryan, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 7 Josh Van der Flier, 8 CJ Stander, 9 Conor Murray, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 13 Garry Ringrose, 14 Keith Earls, 15 Rob Kearney

Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jordan Larmour

NEW ZEALAND
1 Joe Moody, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Nepo Laulala, 4 Brodie Retallick, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 6 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane, 8 Kieran Read (capt.), 9 Aaron Smith, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 11 George Bridge, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 13 Jack Goodhue, 14 Sevu Reece, 15 Beauden Barrett

Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Ofa Tuungafasi, 18 Angus Ta’avao, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Sonny Bill Williams, 23 Jordie Barrett

Date: Saturday, October 19
Kick-Off: 7:15pm local (03:15 Pacific, 06:15 Eastern, 07:15 Rio de la Plata)
Venue: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistants: Pascal Gauzere (France), Angus Gardner (Australia)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)