IRB fixtures reveal Ireland’s World Cup 2011 schedule

THE MATCH schedule for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand has been announced.

Ireland, drawn in Pool C with Australia, Italy and qualifiers from America and Europe, will open their campaign in New Plymouth but will also play games in Auckland, Dunedin and Rotorua.

The IRB yesterday announced the match schedule from Friday, Sept 9 to Sunday, October 23, 2011.

The tournament will kick-off in Auckland, when the host nation New Zealand play Tonga in a Pool A match. The 48 matches that comprise the tournament are scheduled across 13 venues in 13 cities.

Ireland, drawn in Pool C alongside Australia, Italy and qualifiers from America and Europe, face a tour of the North Island of New Zealand with one detour to the South Island for the game against Italy.

Ireland open their campaign against Americas qualifier 2 on Sunday, September 11 in Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth.

Six days later, they travel to Eden Park in Auckland to face two-time Rugby World Cup winners Australia in the crunch game of the pool.

The third pool match sees Ireland in Rotorua for the game against the qualifiers from Europe on Sunday, September 25.

Ireland’s final pool game against Italy will take place in the famous House of Pain: Carisbrook Stadium, Dunedin.

The quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup will be played in Wellington and Christchurch with the semi-finals and final all down for Eden Park in Auckland.

The organisers explained the decision to kick-off the showpiece tournament with a match between New Zealand and Tonga was taken with the country’s diverse population in mind.

Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden revealed serious consideration had been given to France as opponents for the hosts but felt including the Pacific Island nations early in the piece would set the right tone for a country with a huge Tongan, Samoan and Fijian population.

“We also considered using the FIFA model of starting with the current world champions, South Africa, and the games they were playing against Fiji or Wales,” Snedden explained. “In the end we decided the New Zealand team had to be involved. Secondly, considering Tonga or France, we decided that what we wanted to do was send a very early signal about the flavour of the tournament.

“The Pacific Island nations and their people have a huge historical link and presence within New Zealand. In Auckland alone there is a population of 40,000 Tongans. There’s a huge link there and that’s the signal we wanted to send out from the start.

“The French game was given pretty serious consideration. However, the beauty of what we’re doing is we don’t lose that game, it simply gets played two weeks later and that will become the real focal point of Pool A once the opening match is over.”

The tournament kicks off on Friday September 9 and Eden Park will host nine matches in all — five pool games, the semi-finals, third place play-off and the final on Sunday, October 23.

Sixteen venues put in applications for matches. The New Zealanders had to argue their case strongly for 13 venues, with the International Rugby Board (IRB) keen to keep the number down to 10.

“Right from the start we had targeted getting 14 or 13 stadiums,” said Sneeden. “I think the IRB bought into the reasons why we wanted 13 venues and they have given the decision their full support.”

Snedden also confirmed the kick-off times, which were only finalised a few hours before the schedule was released.

The semi-finals and final will kick-off at 9pm local time with the third-place play-off and quarter-finals played in Christchurch to start at 8.30pm. The Wellington quarter-finals will be early evening kick-offs with no specific time decided at this stage.

All weekend night games will start no later than 8.30pm. Weekday night matches will begin no later than 7.30pm.

Of the 40 pool games. 10, including New Zealand’s game in Wellington, will be day-time kick-offs ranging from 1pm-3.30pm starts and another 10 will be early evening kick-offs.

Ireland match schedule:

Sunday, Sept 11 v. Americas 2, Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth; Saturday, Sept 17 v Australia, Eden Park, Auckland; Sunday, Sept 25 v Europe 2, Rotorua; Sunday, Oct 2 v Italy, Carisbrook, Dunedin.