Weekend Match Previews
Friday, September 7th, 2007
France vs Argentina
Host nation France will launch the 2007 Rugby World Cup inspired by a good luck message from soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane.
Months of preparation finally reach a thunderous crescendo at the Stade de France on Friday night when Les Bleus tackle Pool D dangermen Argentina.
While New Zealand start the sixth World Cup as red-hot favourites, France - who are former England skipper Martin Johnson’s title tip - and South Africa appear their strongest challengers.
France warmed up for the tournament with back-to-back victories over England and a thumping triumph against Wales in Cardiff.
But their World Cup aspirations could stand or fall on an ability to handle the suffocating pressure currently surrounding them.
Ireland are also looming in France’s qualifying group, so coach Bernard Laporte’s anxiety for battle to commence is understandable.
A whole nation is behind his players though, with 1998 World Cup winner Zidane among the high-profile supporters wishing Les Bleus well.
Laporte said: “Zidane has experience of this moment, which can be difficult. He wanted to show his support for the team. It was a heartfelt message that touched the players deeply. He told me he was the number one supporter of the team.
“We have never been as ready as we are now, and we are anxious for the competition to start.
“This first encounter will be a decisive match for us and I hope we will be ready for the challenge. We have had a great training phase, and we are prepared and confident.
“As I told the players, we have achieved the level of preparation we planned - now let us go forward with a calm and modest attitude.
“Tension is rising, that’s for sure. I think I speak for all the national team coaches in saying we want it to start.”
Laporte will bank on the experienced core of his side - the likes of Raphael Ibanez, Fabien Pelous and Serge Betsen - to steer France through what could be a hazardous mission.
Meanwhile, Juan Martin Hernandez believes Argentina’s opener against the hosts will be the most important match of his career.
The 25-year-old Stade Francais player will start the match at fly-half after being selected ahead of Felipe Contepomi and Federico Todeschini by coach Marcelo Loffreda.
And despite spending the majority of his career as a full-back, Hernandez insists wearing the number 10 jersey at the Stade de France will be a dream come true.
“It will be the match I’ve always dreamt of,” he told Argentinian newspaper Clarin.
“To open the World Cup at Stade de France against the hosts and wearing the number 10 shirt is not something you experience every day.
“Agustin (Pichot), the captain, was the one who announced the starting XV to the group and I was full of joy.
“You perhaps think it is possible because I’ve been playing at that position in training, but when it is confirmed you realise it’s true.
“When I got to my hotel room, I told myself, `That’s everything. My dream has came true’. Now, I just have to play the game and enjoy it.”
The Pumas will be looking to create an upset against the hosts in their Group D opener as they look to get out of one of the toughest pools in the tournament.
As well as France, Loffreda`s men must face Ireland and with only two teams qualifying from the group Hernandez knows the Pumas must hit the ground running.
“It is a very even pool where any of the three can win or lose to any of the others,” he said. “It will be all or nothing, so we must play our best to clinch qualification.”
New Zealand vs Italy
New Zealand may be heavy favourites to win the World Cup, but they are taking all the pressure in their stride ahead of their opening Pool C game against Italy in Marseille tomorrow.
As with most World Cups, the All Blacks are being tipped as the team to beat but since their inaugural success in 1987, they have always blown it on the big occasion.
They are certainly taking no risks for their opener at the Stade Velodrome against dark horses Italy.
Henry has named his strongest possible line-up for what could be his team’s most testing examination of the group stages.
By the time they take on Scotland, the other major player in the pool, on September 23, they should have found their groove.
“We want to start off the best we can,” said captain Richie McCaw. “Italy sets a reasonable challenge, I think. We’ve got to make sure we’re on the money.
“This is the first step of four we’ve got to take and we want to start the tournament well.”
McCaw has been suffering from a cold and a sore throat this week and he skipped training on Thursday afternoon to avoid tiring himself out.
The imperious flanker should be fit to lead his team out on Saturday, while replacement lock Reuben Thorne is expected to shrug off a leg problem to take his place on the bench.
Henry has gone with a centre partnership of Conrad Smith and Luke McAlister, while Keven Mealamu gets the nod at hooker over Anton Oliver and Doug Howlett has been selected on the right wing.
Keith Robinson was the only player not considered for the game owing to his calf injury.
New Zealand have won all eight of the previous meetings between the two sides. One of them came in 1987 when the southern hemisphere giants thrashed the Azzurri 70-6 in a group opener.
Since then, the Kiwis have beaten Italy in the 1991, 1999 and 2003 tournaments.
Those last two World Cup meetings have seen the Italians ship 171 points, but it should be much tighter this time round.
Italy know their probable qualification decider against Scotland will be their true acid test in Pool C, but that has not stopped them blooding their big guns for tomorrow’s daunting examination.
Coach Pierre Berbizier will put out his first-choice line-up for the clash and he hopes his team justify their billing as one of the dark horses of the tournament.
“This is the best team we have at this moment,” said the former France scrum-half, who will quit his post at the end of the competition to take up a coaching role at Racing Club Paris.
“I’m happy because the All Blacks will also play with the best they have.
“Ireland did the same the last time we played, they wanted to show their strength with their best possible line-up.
“I feel the fact that the All Blacks are playing such a strong starting team is a sign of the respect they are showing for Italy.”
Most are tipping the Italy-Scotland game on September 29 to be the all-important showdown, but Azzurri captain Marco Bortolami insists his men are taking it one game at a time.
“We know that it (the Scotland match) could be the decisive game, the one that could take us to the quarter-finals,” said the Gloucester lock.
“But right now, we are only thinking of New Zealand.”
The majority of Italy’s pack play for leading teams in Europe, so they should be able to take on the All Blacks up front.
It is in the backs where the Azzurri normally fall down, although in jet-heeled Bristol winger Marko Stanojevic and hirsute centre Mirco Bergamasco, they do have a cutting edge.
The game will be particularly poignant for Kaine Robertson, who will feature on the opposite wing to Stanojevic.
The New Zealand-born wideman, who moved to Italy when he was 18, will come up against All Blacks flyer Doug Howlett, who went to the same Auckland school as Robertson.
Roland De Marigny, a former Leeds Tykes player, will start at fly-half, even though he played at full-back in this year’s RBS 6 Nations.
Gonzalo Canale has been left on the bench, with Biarritz’s Andrea Masi preferred at centre alongside Bergamasco.
England vs USA
England begin their World Cup defence on Saturday with head coach Brian Ashton insisting his players “can pose all sorts of problems” for rival teams.
A lightweight United States outfit in Lens should pose few problems to Ashton’s men, who are without stricken fly-half Jonny Wilkinson.
He is definitely out of Saturday’s clash and remains a major doubt for the showdown with South Africa next Friday after suffering an ankle ligament sprain during training earlier this week.
Tomorrow’s game is the 41st on England’s schedule since they were crowned world champions in Sydney almost four years ago.
But just 16 victories - a 40% success rate - underlines the extent of their demise, which is confirmed through an official International Rugby Board world ranking of seventh.
They also arrive in the tournament after failing to score a try during home and away warm-up games against France, raising acute concern about England’s inability to break down world rugby’s best defences.
Ashton said: “We are looking for a little more accuracy than we have shown recently, and if we can also get through the game without injuries then we will be pretty satisfied.
“We have analysed the opposition because it would be disrespectful not to, but we’ve focused a great amount of our attention on our own game.
“If you start thinking about racking up a specific number of points, you put yourself in dangerous territory. The important thing is to get the key processes right.
“I have full confidence the players will rise to the occasion.
“We can pose all sorts of problems for all sorts of teams in this World Cup if we play to our potential.
A sense of urgency among the players is almost tangible as their tournament kick-off approaches.
Skipper Phil Vickery said: “There is a lot of belief among the players, but we just want to get on with it now. Things have dragged on and on.
“We should win this game against the States, and win it convincingly, but they have a lot of good solid players and they will be up for the game.
“In terms of physical conditioning, I think the gaps between sides have closed. You have to respect these guys. They are a proud nation playing the defending champions in their opening game of the World Cup.
“They will be physically and emotionally charged.”
With Wilkinson out, Bath’s Olly Barkley takes on the fly-half role, while Andy Farrell provides bench cover, both for the midfield area and goalkicking.
England will encounter an American pack fine-tuned by one of New Zealand’s top technical coaches.
The Eagles have left no stone unturned with regard to their World Cup preparations after engaging New Zealand Rugby Union forwards expert Mike Cron.
USA scrum coach Bill LeClerc said: “We were fortunate to have worked with Mike Cron and we have implemented a lot of his techniques.
“Many of our players have come along in leaps and bounds in terms of their conditioning.
“They are up for it, and they want to see how they go against one of the best packs in the world.”
The Eagles will be led by former Sale and Llanelli fly-half Mike Hercus, while Newport Gwent Dragons centre Paul Emerick offers a strong midfield presence, with highly-rated number eight Henry Bloomfield and wing Takudzwa Ngwenya both making Test debuts.
USA head coach Peter Thorburn said: “He (Bloomfield) is a very big boy - I wouldn’t like to be paying his food bills!
“He is 300 pounds, and like a lot of American players, is coming to the game at a late stage in life.
“He has worked extremely hard over the last 12 months to improve his conditioning, as have the whole squad, but he is a good example of the work that has gone on.
“Takudzwa is an exceptional talent. He’s got something you can’t coach, and that is real speed, and he also has good evasive skills.”
Realistically, the USA will do well if they can restrict England to scoring less than a half-century of points.
They lack the overall pace and power to make it a genuine contest, while their final warm-up game last month saw them beaten by a second-string Munster outfit in Chicago.
Australia vs Japan
Australia backrower Stephen Hoiles is desperate for his first taste of World Cup action.
The skilful loose-forward will start from the bench in the Wallabies’ opening clash against Japan in Lyon on Saturday, following the return of starting number eight Wycliff Palu from a shoulder injury.
Hoiles, who started Australia’s last two Tri-Nations matches against New Zealand and South Africa, plans to make the most of his opportunities against the Cherry Blossoms.
“I just hope I get enough time to get out there and experience the atmosphere of a World Cup,” Hoiles said.
“I’m presuming that it’ll be more later in the game than early so conditions might be a bit tough and people might look to tire a bit so (I will try to) just maybe spark them up and add a bit of energy to the team.
“It may be difficult game conditions; although we’ve trained pretty hard the last four or five weeks we haven’t played, so there may be guys that are short of a gallop.
“So if I get out there and there are some holes (in the defence) that will be exciting.”
The 25-year-old made his Test debut in 2004, but only cemented a regular berth in the 22-man squad in the recent domestic campaign, making appearances in all seven Tests.
Hoiles left the star-studded NSW Waratahs to join the ACT Brumbies for the 2007 Super 14 season, and the move paid immediate dividends with Hoiles’ stellar play catching the eye of Wallabies selectors.
As if taking on a full-strength Australia team is not a hard enough task for Japan, they will have to do it without their chief attacking weapon.
Daisuke Ohata, the leading try-scorer in international rugby, is one of the few household names in the Japan set-up.
But the man who has touched down 69 times in Tests will be absent when his country attempts to cause the biggest shock in World Cup history by beating the two-time champions this weekend.
Ohata injured his left Achilles tendon in a warm-up win over Portugal a fortnight ago, just weeks after making his return to action after surgery on his right Achilles.
To make things even worse for Japan coach John Kirwan, in the same game against Portugal, fly-half Eiji Ando picked up an injury which ended his World Cup dreams.
Kirwan has been afforded no time to bemoan his misfortune and the two players called up as replacements - Tatsuya Kusumi and Tomoki Kitagawa - have been thrown straight into the team that will take on the Wallabies at the Stade Gerland.
Taku Inokuchi, another late call-up to the squad following an injury to fellow hooker Mitsugu Yamamoto, will also play this weekend, but Kirwan is keeping his head up.
“Having to send three players home before the tournament starts is not easy on the team,” said the former New Zealand winger.
“But we’ve shifted some players around and we’re confident we can play at our best.”
Even if they do play at their best, the ‘Brave Blossoms’ are unlikely to cause the Australians any problems.
With the crunch Pool B encounter against Wales coming up next week, the champions of 1991 and 1999 have gone with their strongest possible line-up for their opener.
“They’ve picked their top side and that’s what we wanted,” added Kirwan.
“With us being Japan, we have nothing to lose but we need to play with courage, belief and a lot of heart.
“We’ve seen Australia play many times. (George) Gregan and (Stephen) Larkham are key players, but the whole team is competitive.
“They are the second best team in the rankings so they’ll be strong across the board.
“So we have to enforce our game on them. If we can do that for 80 minutes, I think we can be competitive.”
Beating Australia is not first and foremost in the minds of the Japanese. It is the winnable clashes against Fiji, next Wednesday, and Canada, on September 25, that are clearly the games that matter.
Kirwan nonetheless wants his players to enjoy the occasion against Australia.
“I want our players to be excited, not nervous. World Cups are where stars are born,” he said.
“World Cups are about all the players taking their opportunities and having a go.”
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