Ireland chase ‘performance’ in pool decider against NZ

In their final World Cup Pool C game, Ireland’s head coach Scott Bemand predicted that their victory would give them “real momentum” heading into the quarter-finals.

With just one game left, Bemand’s team advanced to the knockout stages of the competition by recording two bonus-point victories over Japan and Spain.

They now square off against World Cup winners New Zealand, who have won both of their previous matches and are vying for first place in Pool C.

“We need to keep the momentum going, and we need to compete with World Cup hopefuls to do that.” He told BBC Sport NI that New Zealand “has earned the right to refer to themselves as World Cup contenders” and that they want to cause some issues.

We think we have the results and performances needed, but timing those performances going into the quarter-finals is key, and getting that [New Zealand] game right is absolutely necessary, and it will give us some real momentum if we do well.

For the Sunday New Zealand game against New Zealand in Brighton, Bemand will hope to have co-captain Sam Monaghan and influential back-row Aoife Wafer back.

Wafer has missed both Pool C victories as she continues to recover from a knee injury while Monaghan went off injured against Spain.

Wafer has been training with the squad in England, but Bemand confirmed that Monaghan’s availability is still unknown.

“Sam picked up a bump, and of course we missed Sam,” Bemand said, “but there is a bigger picture that we need her deep in the competition.”