THE THINKING HAD been that Darren Cave was Ireland’s back-up choice at inside centre, but with a hamstring strain preventing Robbie Henshaw from featuring in the World Cup opener against Canada tomorrow, Luke Fitzgerald has stepped in.
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Since changing clothes before boarding the bus would deny AIG precious time in front of the television cameras, the players will instead undress once behind tinted windows. In a perverse way, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will welcome all this attention on the superstars from the land of the Long Cloud.
“You learn more from a loss than a win”. And in that regard, South Africa’s finest certainly qualify right now.
Former New Zealand rugby union player Jonah Lomu (left) and members of the Ngati Ranana London Maori … O’Driscoll’s try in the corner will go down in history as one of the greatest Irish tries of all-time.
All Blacks prop Wyatt Crockett said the Argentinians will put up a good fight with their strong competitive forward pack.
Argentina know the odds are stacked against them when they face New Zealand in their opening World Cup encounter at Wembley Stadium on Sunday but coach Daniel Hourcade hopes they can add the champions scalp to those of other notable ones in the recent past.
“It’s a special feeling to be in the World Cup“.
Four players in this All Blacks squad have won 100+ caps, no other side has more than three players amongst their 31 man squad with 100 caps. With his great eye for space and vast skill on the ball, Handre look set to become a pillar of the Sprinkboks for years to come. Website ToyNews reports Rugby Match Attax trading cards are the No1 Rugby World Cup-themed toy. It is also leading rugby’s attempts to conquer new markets.
“The haka is very meaningful to us”, Sharples said.
New Zealand Rugby doesn’t provide estimates of its brand value, or earnings from sales of licensed products such as replica jerseys.
In the last World Cup when the two sides met in the quarter-finals Argentina led 7-6 midway through the first half before the All Blacks pulled away to win 33-10.
Van der Merwe and Carpenter are playing in their third World Cup.
– Twickenham is the home of English rugby and will host the final.
“It is going to be absolutely massive”, he said. “It gives us an opportunity”.
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Their quiet confidence is armored by bitter lessons taken from 20 years of failure from the second to the seventh World Cups, having to catch up with rivals on how to play tournament rugby, and the sweet knowledge of what it takes to win the Webb Ellis Cup. And, for the first time, sponsors’ logos will be seen on training fields. “Preparation has gone well but we need to go out there and deliver on the pitch now”.
