Ireland promise to go full pelt against Kiwi world champions

Scrum coach Denis Fogarty touched on the ‘Green wave’ that the squad has adopted for this tournament. If it can come across as a tad corny and forced then the principle behind it backs up the belief that Ireland will be at full throttle next time out.

FULL PELT: Scrum Coach Denis Fogarty during training. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Ireland have promised that there will be no holding back when they meet the world champion Black Ferns in Sunday’s World Cup showdown at Brighton’s Amex Stadium.

Both sides have already confirmed their passage from Pool C after their respective defeats of Spain and Japan. Top spot is still to be claimed, though, and with it a less onerous task in the quarter-finals a week later.

There is a theory out there that Ireland would be better served in leaving fifth gear for another day against the world champions and conserving something of themselves for a likely last eight tie with France. It’s not a bad idea on paper.

But much harder in practise.

Co-captain Sam Monaghan and back row star Aoife Wafer have both been declared good to go this time around, the former after going off early last week with a hip problem, and the latter five months since damaging her knee in the Six Nations.

And scrum coach Denis Fogarty dismissed the suggestion that the pair might be absolved of duties and given an extra six or seven days to build up to that first knockout tie further down the line. Not happening.

Fogarty touched on the ‘Green wave’ that the squad has adopted for this tournament. If it can come across as a tad corny and forced then the principle behind it backs up the belief that Ireland will be at full throttle next time out.

“So every game that they go out, they're representing something else, other than just going out to win a rugby game. They’ve been around and they've spoken about this. They're really building on this.

Scrum Coach Denis Fogarty talks to the press. Pic; ©INPHO/Ben Brady

“It's really, really important to them that they go out and create their own wave by inspiring others and the next generation of players. And we need to perform before we go into a quarter-final because that'll be important to make sure that we have momentum going.”

The 31,000-capacity Amex isn’t sold out yet but tournament organisers are saying it’s not far off that. Whatever the crowd, it will be multiples of the audience that took in Ireland’s defeat of the Kiwis in the WXV1 tournament in Canada last year.

New Zealand remember. Kelly Brazier has called this “a game we’ve been looking forward to”. Brazier and Kennedy Tukuafu have warned that every game is being approached like a final and the Kiwis are insistent that they are a better team now than in Canada.

Ireland are saying something similar.

“Reviewing that game, we probably are a lot better now at building scores,” said Fogarty. “When you look back, they coughed up the ball at times, which gave us opportunities. We're now a threat with the setpiece playing in the right areas.

“Overall, we've moved on and that's probably from the games that we've played, the teams that we've played, in terms of playing England now and France with it. This group of players are actually getting better and better, what they've doing.

“But we’re fully aware that they're a very, very good side. They're not six-time champions for no reason. They're bringing through a lot of very, very good players. So it's definitely going to be a tough challenge.”