Ireland relishing facing ‘world-class’ New Zealand

Pool C of the Women’s Rugby World Cup: Ireland vs. New Zealand

Brighton &amp Hove Albion Stadium Date: Sunday, September Kick-off: 14:45 BST

In Sunday’s World Cup Pool C decider in Brighton, Scrum-half Emily Lane claims Ireland are “raring to go” and “looking forward to the challenge” of facing defending champions New Zealand.

After earning bonus points in their opening two matches, both teams have already advanced to the quarter-finals, but the winner of Sunday’s game will be the dominant force.

“We all want to go out this weekend and perform, put our hands up, and try to top the pool,” said Lane, “but it’s great that we have qualified.”

We simply want to demonstrate to the world that we can compete with world-class teams like New Zealand, which have won the World Cup six times.

We want to put our best foot forward in this game because they are a world-class team and we respect that.

Before facing the pressure of the Black Ferns, Lane knows there are some areas of his performance that need to be addressed before the country can win. In their opening game, Ireland defeated Spain 43-27 last weekend.

You must acknowledge the positive aspects of the game, but there are still opportunities for improvement. We also want to reduce penalties, be more physically challenged, and stop those tries.

“As backs, we have been working on executing in the green zone and scoring tries, and I think we’ve been doing that.”

“That time for us was different.” I had just joined the squad, so I had to sort of find my feet and watch a few others take the lead, but now I’m more firmly rooted within the team, the Irish Sevens Paris Olympian explained.

Ireland moved to Brighton for Sunday’s game after playing their first two World Cup matches in Northampton. A nearly-capacity crowd of 30, 000 is expected to be there at the Brighton &amp, Hove Albion Stadium.

The majority of people will back Scott Bemand’s side.

The support is what makes this World Cup so exciting, and it almost feels like a home World Cup because we are so close to home.