Kelly cautious of points pursuit ahead of crunch Samoa clash

IRELAND coach Andy Kelly insists his side will not go chasing points in their crunch World Cup clash with Samoa in Parramatta.

The Irish go into their final Pool C match on Wednesday needing to win by six points to top the group and secure a place in the semi-final qualifier against Scotland or Fiji on the Gold Coast on November 10.

The winner of that match will almost certainly face a last-four clash with defending champions Australia.

“We can’t get stressed out by the winning margin,” said Kelly.

“We’ve got to earn the right to put points on the board. It all hinges on us putting right some of the things we felt we came up short with in our earlier match.

“It’s a fairly standard winning margin in a close game. If you are 12 or 18 points behind in a game you wouldn’t consider it an insurmountable margin.

“We’ve got to be patient and not start chasing the first game in the first minute.”

Dublin-born front-row forward Wayne Kerr, 24, who only took up rugby league three years ago, will be on the bench in place of veteran Mick Cassidy, the former Wigan and England forward who misses out through injury.

“Mick has been carrying a calf strain during the course of this week,” said Kelly. “We’re hoping he will be ready for our third game.

“Wayne has worked hard and we think he’s ready to drop in there. I know he’s excited about it.”

The call-up of Kerr, who played for London Skolars this year, is the only addition to the side that lost 22-20 to Tonga in their opening match last Monday.

Kelly also makes two positional changes, with scrum-half Liam Finn and prop Gareth Haggerty coming into the starting line-up at the expense of Karl Fitzpatrick and Ryan Tandy, who both drop to the bench.

Finn caught the eye with his kicking game after coming on as a sub against Tonga and Kelly is hoping he can bring more organisation to the side.

“They are two very different types of player,” said Kelly. “We have different options and we’re exercising our right to change the side.

“A lot of little things need to change, such as our structure. Some of our execution was a bit rusty. We need to be more patient and improve our kicking game.”

IRELAND: M Platt (Bradford); D Blanch (Wakefield), S Gleeson (Wakefield), S Littler (Salford), P Richards (Wigan); S Grix (Wakefield, capt), L Finn (Dewsbury), E O’Carroll (Wigan), B Beswick (Widnes), G Haggerty (Harlequins), B Harrison (Warrington), L Doran (Leigh), S Finnigan (Bradford).

Replacements: M McIlorum (Wigan), K Fitzpatrick (Salford), W Kerr (London Skolars), R Tandy (Wests Tigers).

SAMOA: S Samau (Gold Coast); M Utai (Canterbury Bulldogs), G Carmont (Wigan), W Talau (St Helens), F Meli (St Helens); N Vagana (South Sydney), B Roberts (Canterbury Bulldogs); W McDade (Auckland Vulcans), T Seuseu (Cronulla), T Puletua (Penrith), L Setu (St George Illawarra), D Solomona (Bradford), H Hansen (Wigan).

Replacements: F Puletua (Penrith), A Lauitiiti (Leeds), M Taulapapa (Cronulla), J Paulo (Penrith).