A statistical preview of Thursday's Rugby World Cup Pool A tie between Ireland and Russia at Kobe Misaki Stadium (kick-off 7.15pm local time/11.15am Irish time).
RUGBY WORLD CUP – POOL A: Thursday, October 3
IRELAND (2nd) v RUSSIA (5th), Kobe Misaki Stadium, 7.15pm local time/11.15am Irish time (live eir Sport 1/RTÉ 2/UTV/ITV/RTÉ Radio 1/BBC Radio Ulster/BBC Radio 5 Live/IRFU Live Blog)
IRELAND: Rob Kearney (UCD/Leinster); Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster), Bundee Aki (Galwegians/Connacht), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster); Jonathan Sexton (St. Mary's College/Leinster) (capt), Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster); Dave Kilcoyne (UL Bohemians/Munster), Niall Scannell (Dolphin/Munster), John Ryan (Cork Constitution/Munster), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), Jean Kleyn (Munster), Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Peter O'Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Jordi Murphy (Lansdowne/Ulster).
Replacements: Sean Cronin (St. Mary's College/Leinster), Andrew Porter (UCD/Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Clontarf/Leinster), Iain Henderson (Queen's University/Ulster), CJ Stander (Shannon/Munster), Joey Carbery (Clontarf/Munster), Jack Carty (Buccaneers/Connacht), Jordan Larmour (St. Mary's College/Leinster).
RUSSIA: Vasily Artemyev (Krasny Yar) (capt); German Davydov (VVA Saracens), Igor Galinovskiy (Krasny Yar), Kirill Golosnitskiy (Krasny Yar), Denis Simplikevich (Yenisey-STM); Ramil Gaisin (Yenisey-STM), Dmitry Perov (VVA Saracens); Andrei Polivalov (VVA Saracens), Evgeny Matveev (VVA Saracens), Kirill Gotovtsev (Krasny Yar), Andrey Garbuzov (Krasny Yar), Bogdan Fedotko (Krasny Yar), Anton Sychev (Metallurg), Tagir Gadzhiev (RC Kuban), Victor Gresev (Krasny Yar).
Replacements: Stanislav Selskii (Yenisey-STM), Valery Morozov (Sale Sharks), Vladimir Podrezov (VVA Saracens), Andrey Ostrikov (FC Grenoble), Evgeny Elgin (Yenisey-STM), Sergey Ianiushkin (Lokomotiv Penza), Roman Khodin (RC Kuban), Vladimir Ostroushko (RC Kuban).
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant Referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
Television Match Official: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
Head-To-Head:
Played – 2
Ireland Won – 2
Russia Won – 0
Ireland v Russia – Previous Results:
September 21, 2002 – Rugby World Cup Qualifier: Russia 3 Ireland 35, Central Stadium, Krasnoyarsk
September 25, 2011 – Rugby World Cup Pool C: Ireland 62 Russia 12, International Stadium, Rotorua
Biggest Wins:
Ireland: Points & Margin: 62-12, 2011 Rugby World Cup
Russia: –
Individual Records In The Series:
Most Points In A Match: Ireland 15 (Ronan O'Gara 2002, 2011); Russia 5 (Vasily Artemyev 2011, Denis Simplikevich 2011)
Most Tries In A Match: Ireland 2 (Girvan Dempsey 2002, Keith Earls 2011); Russia 1 (Vasily Artemyev 2011, Denis Simplikevich 2011)
Most Appearances – Ireland v Russia:
2 – Leo Cullen, Alexandr Khrokhin, Andrei Kuzin, Ronan O'Gara, Konstantin Rachkov
Top Points Scorers – Ireland v Russia:
30 – Ronan O'Gara
10 – Girvan Dempsey, Keith Earls
5 – Vasily Artemyev, Isaac Boss, Tony Buckley, Shane Jennings, Rob Kearney, Fergus McFadden, Sean O'Brien, Malcolm O'Kelly, Denis Simplikevich, Andrew Trimble, Keith Wood
Top Try Scorers – Ireland v Russia:
2 – Girvan Dempsey, Keith Earls
1 – Vasily Artemyev, Isaac Boss, Tony Buckley, Shane Jennings, Rob Kearney, Fergus McFadden, Sean O'Brien, Malcolm O'Kelly, Denis Simplikevich, Andrew Trimble, Keith Wood
Ireland – Form Guide From Start Of The 2018 Six Nations:
Won 15-13 v France away (Six Nations)
Won 56-19 v Italy home (Six Nations)
Won 37-27 v Wales home (Six Nations)
Won 30-25 v Scotland home (Six Nations)
Won 24-15 v England away (Six Nations)
Lost 18-9 v Australia away (Summer Series)
Won 26-21 v Australia away (Summer Series)
Won 20-16 v Australia away (Summer Series)
Won 54-7 v Italy neutral (Autumn Test)
Won 28-17 v Argentina home (GUINNESS Series)
Won 16-9 v New Zealand home (GUINNESS Series)
Won 57-14 v USA home (GUINNESS Series)
Lost 32-20 v England home (Six Nations)
Won 22-13 v Scotland away (Six Nations)
Won 26-16 v Italy away (Six Nations)
Won 26-14 v France home (Six Nations)
Lost 25-7 v Wales away (Six Nations)
Won 29-10 v Italy home (GUINNESS Summer Series)
Lost 57-15 v England away (Rugby World Cup Warm-Up)
Won 22-17 v Wales away (Rugby World Cup Warm-Up)
Won 19-10 v Wales home (GUINNESS Summer Series)
Won 27-3 v Scotland neutral (Rugby World Cup Pool A)
Lost 19-12 v Japan away (Rugby World Cup Pool A)
Russia – Form Guide From Start Of The 2018 Test Season:
Lost 20-13 v Spain home (Rugby Europe Championship/Rugby World Cup Qualifier)
Won 48-7 v Belgium home (Rugby Europe Championship/Rugby World Cup Qualifier)
Lost 25-15 v Romania away (Rugby Europe Championship/Rugby World Cup Qualifier)
Lost 29-9 v Georgia home (Rugby Europe Championship)
Won 57-3 v Germany away (Rugby Europe Championship/Rugby World Cup Qualifier)
Lost 62-13 v USA away (Summer Tour)
Won 43-20 v Canada away (Summer Tour)
Won 47-20 v Namibia home (Autumn Test)
Lost 32-27 v Japan neutral (Autumn Test)
Lost 16-14 v Spain away (Rugby Europe Championship)
Won 64-7 v Belgium home (Rugby Europe Championship)
Won 26-18 v Germany away (Rugby Europe Championship)
Lost 22-20 v Romania away (Rugby Europe Championship)
Lost 22-6 v Georgia home (Rugby Europe Championship)
Lost 48-26 v Uruguay away (Nations Cup)
Won 20-0 v Namibia neutral (Nations Cup)
Lost 85-15 v Italy away (Rugby World Cup Warm-Up)
Lost 30-10 v Japan away (Rugby World Cup Pool A)
Lost 34-9 v Samoa neutral (Rugby World Cup Pool A)
Ireland – Most-Capped Players:
133 Brian O'Driscoll
128 Ronan O'Gara
122 Rory Best
108 Paul O'Connell
105 John Hayes
98 Peter Stringer
95 Jamie Heaslip
94 Donncha O'Callaghan
93 Cian Healy
93 Rob Kearney
92 Malcolm O'Kelly
85 Jonathan Sexton
82 Gordon D'Arcy
82 Girvan Dempsey
79 Keith Earls
76 Conor Murray
72 David Humphreys
72 Geordan Murphy
72 David Wallace
71 Sean Cronin
71 Eoin Reddan
70 Kevin Maggs
70 Andrew Trimble
69 Tommy Bowe
69 Mike Gibson
Ireland – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:
1083 Ronan O'Gara
767 Jonathan Sexton
560 David Humphreys
308 Michael Kiernan
296 Eric Elwood
245 Brian O’Driscoll
217 Ollie Campbell
195 Paddy Jackson
158 Tom Kiernan
150 Tommy Bowe
150 Keith Earls
145 Denis Hickie
Ireland – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:
46 Brian O'Driscoll
30 Tommy Bowe
30 Keith Earls
29 Denis Hickie
21 Shane Horgan
19 Girvan Dempsey
18 Geordan Murphy
17 Brendan Mullin
17 Andrew Trimble
16 Ronan O'Gara
16 Jacob Stockdale
15 Rob Kearney
15 Kevin Maggs
15 Keith Wood
14 Conor Murray
14 George Stephenson
13 Jamie Heaslip
12 Keith Crossan
12 David Wallace
11 Rory Best
11 Alan Duggan
11 Simon Geoghegan
Russia – Most-Capped Players:
111 Yuri Kushnarev
98 Victor Gresev
96 Andrei Garbuzov
88 Vasily Artemyev
78 Andrei Kuzin
76 Alexandr Khrokhin
73 Vladislav Korshunov
73 Alexandr Voytov
72 Vyacheslav Grachev
71 Mikhail Babaev
70 Alexandr Ianyushkin
69 Igor Klyuchnikov
68 Artem Fatakhov
66 Dimitri Gerasimov
60 Evgeni Matveev
Russia – All-Time Leading Points Scorers:
777 Yuri Kushnarev
316 Konstantin Rachkov
168 Vladimir Simonov
145 Vasily Artemyev
130 Ramil Gaisin
130 Andrei Kuzin
125 Vladimir Ostrushko
Russia – All-Time Leading Try Scorers:
29 Vasily Artemyev
26 Andrei Kuzin
25 Vladimir Ostrushko
20 Victor Gresev
19 Vyacheslav Grachev
18 Igor Galinovskiy
15 Alexandr Gvozdovsky
15 Denis Simplikevich
13 Evgeni Matveev
World Rugby All-Time Top Points Scorers:
1598 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
1246 Jonny Wilkinson (1179-England, 67-Lions)
1090 Neil Jenkins (1049-Wales, 41-Lions)
1083 Ronan O'Gara (Ireland)
1010 Diego Dominguez (27-Argentina, 983-Italy)
970 Stephen Jones (917-Wales, 53-Lions)
967 Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand)
951 Florin Vlaicu (Romania)
911 Michael Lynagh (Australia)
893 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
878 Matt Burke (Australia)
863 Owen Farrell (England)
840 Merab Kvirikashvili (Georgia)
809 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
World Rugby All-Time Top Try Scorers:
67 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
64 David Campese (Australia)
60 Shane Williams (58-Wales, 2-Lions)
50 Rory Underwood (49-England, 1-Lions)
49 Doug Howlett (New Zealand)
47 Brian O'Driscoll (46-Ireland, 1-Lions)
46 Christian Cullen (New Zealand)
46 Joe Rokocoko (New Zealand)
46 Julian Savea (New Zealand)
44 Jeff Wilson (New Zealand)
41 George North (39-Wales, 2-Lions)
41 Gareth Thomas (40-Wales, 1-Lions)
40 Chris Latham (Australia)
(Note: Daisuke Ohata scored 69 tries for Japan, but not all against major international opposition)
The '100 Caps' Club:
148 Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
141 Brian O'Driscoll (133-Ireland, 8-Lions)
141 Sergio Parisse (Italy)
139 George Gregan (Australia)
139 Alun Wyn Jones (130-Wales, 9-Lions)
134 Gethin Jenkins (129-Wales, 5-Lions)
132 Keven Mealamu (New Zealand)
130 Ronan O'Gara (128-Ireland, 2-Lions)
129 Stephen Moore (Australia)
127 Victor Matfield (South Africa)
124 Bryan Habana (South Africa)
124 Kieran Read (New Zealand)
122 Rory Best (Ireland)
120 Adam Ashley-Cooper (Australia)
120 Florin Vlaicu (Romania)
119 Martin Castrogiovanni (Italy)
119 Jason Leonard (114-England, 5-Lions)
118 Fabien Pelous (France)
118 Tony Woodcock (New Zealand)
117 Davit Kacharava (Georgia)
116 Nathan Sharpe (Australia)
116 Alessandro Zanni (Italy)
115 Merab Kvirikashvili (Georgia)
115 Paul O'Connell (108-Ireland, 7-Lions)
114 Sam Whitelock (New Zealand)
113 Tendai Mtawarira (South Africa)
112 Marco Bortolami (Italy)
112 Dan Carter (New Zealand)
111 Ross Ford (110-Scotland, 1-Lions)
111 Yuri Kushnarev (Russia)
111 Philippe Sella (France)
111 John Smit (South Africa)
111 George Smith (Australia)
110 Stephen Jones (104-Wales, 6-Lions)
109 Jean de Villiers (South Africa)
109 Chris Paterson (Scotland)
108 Owen Franks (New Zealand)
108 Sekope Kepu (Australia)
107 Catalin Fercu (Romania)
107 Will Genia (Australia)
107 John Hayes (105-Ireland, 2-Lions)
106 Mauro Bergamasco (Italy)
105 Sean Lamont (Scotland)
104 Leonardo Ghiraldini (Italy)
104 Martyn Williams (100-Wales, 4-Lions)
103 Matt Giteau (Australia)
103 Andrea Lo Cicero (Italy)
103 Ma'a Nonu (New Zealand)
103 Gareth Thomas (100-Wales, 3-Lions)
102 Stephen Larkham (Australia)
102 Percy Montgomery (South Africa)
101 David Campese (Australia)
101 Giorgi Chkhaidze (Georgia)
101 Alessandro Troncon (Italy)
101 Goncalo Uva (Portugal)
101 Vasco Uva (Portugal)
100 Valentin Calafeteanu (Romania)
100 Jamie Heaslip (95-Ireland, 5-Lions)
100 Adam Jones (95-Wales, 5-Lions)
100 Mils Muliaina (New Zealand)