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World Cup set for weekend showdowns
Source: Agencies |
September 30, 2011, Friday
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THE Rugby World Cup paused for breath yesterday with a rare rest day as attention turned to the preparations of the 13 teams hoping this weekend's final round of pool games will send them into the quarterfinals.
Several nations in action over the weekend have drawn on recent clashes for inspiration, or as a warning, but when it comes to England against Scotland they have 140 years-worth of rivalry to call upon,
The British neighbors, who played rugby's first international match in 1871, meet for the 129th time but their first on neutral ground in Auckland in a Saturday night special.
England, which leads Pool B after three wins, is the favorite and needs only a draw to top the group while Scotland will almost certainly need not only a win but one with a bonus point to maintain its record of reaching at least the quarterfinals of every World Cup.
Mark Cueto, who scored a hat-trick against Romania last week after coming back from injury, was left out of England's match 22 as manager Martin Johnson opted for converted fullback Delon Armitage on the left wing.
Scotland captain and lock Alastair Kellock returns amid seven changes from the side beaten at the death by Argentina last week as coach Andy Robinson said he wanted to introduce more pace to the side.
"There's a lot of chaos in England-Scotland games and the thing is to be able to think clearly in that chaos, and one of the things we're looking to do on Saturday is play really quickly," said Robinson, who faced Scotland as an England player and coach.
England's preparations suffered a minor blip yesterday after it banned assistant coaches David Alred and Paul Stridgeon from tomorrow's match as punishment for switching balls used by Jonny Wilkinson to kick conversions in last Saturday's win over Romania.
While England has reached its fourth game relatively unscathed, Australia has been so hard-hit that coach Robbie Deans was forced to name 35-year-old loose forward Radike Samo on the wing for tomorrow's game against Russia.
Fortunately for Deans, he could probably field the entire 1991 Wallaby backline and still get the bonus-point victory that should send them through. "We've got four backs coming back to us next week so it shouldn't be an issue going forward," said Deans, who expects to have more selection options for a probable quarterfinal with South Africa.
The Springboks should take their place by beating Samoa today. In other games, Fiji takes on Wales; and New Zealand meets Canada.
Several nations in action over the weekend have drawn on recent clashes for inspiration, or as a warning, but when it comes to England against Scotland they have 140 years-worth of rivalry to call upon,
The British neighbors, who played rugby's first international match in 1871, meet for the 129th time but their first on neutral ground in Auckland in a Saturday night special.
England, which leads Pool B after three wins, is the favorite and needs only a draw to top the group while Scotland will almost certainly need not only a win but one with a bonus point to maintain its record of reaching at least the quarterfinals of every World Cup.
Mark Cueto, who scored a hat-trick against Romania last week after coming back from injury, was left out of England's match 22 as manager Martin Johnson opted for converted fullback Delon Armitage on the left wing.
Scotland captain and lock Alastair Kellock returns amid seven changes from the side beaten at the death by Argentina last week as coach Andy Robinson said he wanted to introduce more pace to the side.
"There's a lot of chaos in England-Scotland games and the thing is to be able to think clearly in that chaos, and one of the things we're looking to do on Saturday is play really quickly," said Robinson, who faced Scotland as an England player and coach.
England's preparations suffered a minor blip yesterday after it banned assistant coaches David Alred and Paul Stridgeon from tomorrow's match as punishment for switching balls used by Jonny Wilkinson to kick conversions in last Saturday's win over Romania.
While England has reached its fourth game relatively unscathed, Australia has been so hard-hit that coach Robbie Deans was forced to name 35-year-old loose forward Radike Samo on the wing for tomorrow's game against Russia.
Fortunately for Deans, he could probably field the entire 1991 Wallaby backline and still get the bonus-point victory that should send them through. "We've got four backs coming back to us next week so it shouldn't be an issue going forward," said Deans, who expects to have more selection options for a probable quarterfinal with South Africa.
The Springboks should take their place by beating Samoa today. In other games, Fiji takes on Wales; and New Zealand meets Canada.
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