Rugby World Cup Warm-Up Match: Ireland v Samoa

Ireland conclude their series of Rugby World Cup warm-up fixtures against Samoa, in what will be the teams’ first meeting since the 2019 tournament in Japan.

RUGBY WORLD CUP WARM-UP MATCH:

Saturday, August 26 –

IRELAND v SAMOA, Stade Jean-Dauger, Bayonne, 8.45pm local time/7.45pm Irish time (live RTÉ 2/RTÉ Player/Amazon Prime Video/RTÉ Radio 1 Extra/IRFU Live Blog)

Team News: Following their Bank of Ireland Nations Series wins over Italy and England, the Ireland squad have spent this week in Bayonne to finalise their preparations for the Rugby World Cup.

With just two weeks to go until their Pool B opener against Romania, Iain Henderson returns to the second row to captain the team against Samoa, having done so against Italy at the start of the month.

Jimmy O’Brien, Mack Hansen and Keith Earls, fresh from becoming Irish Rugby’s ninth centurion last weekend, are selected in the back-three, while the centre berths are filled by Robbie Henshaw and Stuart McCloskey.

There is an all-Munster half-back pairing as Jack Crowley and Conor Murray start together, the latter winning his 107th Ireland cap. Including Lions Tests, Murray’s 115th international appearance draws him level with Paul O’Connell.

Cian Healy is set to become Ireland’s most-capped forward of all-time, edging ahead of former captain Rory Best (124 caps). Completing the front row are Finlay Bealham and Ulster youngster Tom Stewart, who makes his first start after debuting off the bench against Italy.

Like Hansen, Tadhg Beirne and Josh van der Flier are both retained from the 29-10 victory over England. Beirne packs down with Henderson in the engine room, and van der Flier, Ryan Baird and Caelan Doris make up an all-Leinster back row.

There is a wealth of experience at Andy Farrell’s disposal among the replacements, with Rob Herring, Jeremy Loughman and Tom O’Toole providing the front row reinforcements.

James Ryan, who skippered the side last Saturday on home soil, and Peter O’Mahony offer cover in the second row and back row respectively. Craig Casey, Ross Byrne and Garry Ringrose are the back-line options.

Having made a dozen changes to the starting XV and with his World Cup squad announcement looming on Sunday, head coach Farrell commented: “I think we got better, certainly in the second game (against England). Scored some fantastic tries.

“(It’s) consistency, isn’t it? That’s why we play the warm-up games and get some of the rust out and show pictures to one another about what’s acceptable and what’s not. We’re here to take a step forward in our development as a team.

“This is a great week for us, as in mimicking the weeks that could be coming up for us in all sorts of different ways. Between the Romania game to the Tonga game, the heat could still be around which it certainly is this week.”

He added: “There’s plenty of distractions which there’s definitely going to be in the World Cup. Walking around on a day off you feel like you’re on holiday so that isn’t how you prepare for a Test match.

“So there’s plenty of distractions. The same referee (Wayne Barnes is in charge of the pool match against Tonga), a night match which is later than normal for us, so this is a brilliant week to see how we cope with all those bits.

“For whatever has happened this week, happens most weeks to be fair, but this was our first back-to-back week with games, so (it’s about) how we manage people.

“I’m not saying that it’s been an easy week because there’s always something going on with all sorts of different players, but this is going to be a breeze in comparison to what’s coming around the corner when we get one, two, three, four, hopefully five games into the tournament.”

Meanwhile, Samoa head coach Seilala Mapusua has made nine changes to the side that beat the Barbarians 28-14 in Brive last weekend. They have also registered recent wins over Japan (24-22) and Tonga (34-9), while losing 33-19 to Fiji.

Former All Black Lima Sopoaga, who qualifies for Samoa on ancestry grounds, will make his Test debut for the Pacific Islanders at out-half. La Rochelle’s UJ Seuteni, a try scorer against Leinster during last season’s Heineken Champions Cup final, features in the centre.

Leinster’s own Michael Ala’alatoa, the Samoan squad’s co-captain, and ex-Ulster number 10 Christian Leali’ifano are two more familiar faces. The pair are part of a bench line-up that includes four Moana Pasifika players.

Ed Fidow, Seuteni, Ala’alatoa, Perpignan hooker Seilala Lam, co-captain Chris Vui, Paul Alo-Emile and Jordan Lay were all part of the Samoan matchday 23 for their 47-5 defeat to Ireland during the 2019 Rugby World Cup’s pool stages in Japan.

IRELAND: Jimmy O’Brien (Naas/Leinster); Mack Hansen (Galway Corinthians/Connacht), Robbie Henshaw (Buccaneers/Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Bangor/Ulster), Keith Earls (Young Munster/Munster); Jack Crowley (Cork Constitution/Munster), Conor Murray (Garryowen/Munster); Cian Healy (Clontarf/Leinster), Tom Stewart (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Finlay Bealham (Buccaneers/Connacht), Iain Henderson (Academy/Ulster) (capt), Tadhg Beirne (Lansdowne/Munster), Ryan Baird (Dublin University/Leinster), Josh van der Flier (UCD/Leinster), Caelan Doris (St. Mary’s College/Leinster).

Replacements: Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Jeremy Loughman (Garryowen/Munster), Tom O’Toole (Ballynahinch/Ulster), James Ryan (UCD/Leinster), Peter O’Mahony (Cork Constitution/Munster), Craig Casey (Shannon/Munster), Ross Byrne (UCD/Leinster), Garry Ringrose (UCD/Leinster).