Kearney brothers named in Ireland team for World Cup opener against Canada

“I’ve always been very attached to Canada despite living in Australia and sounding not particularly Canadian”.

“You’ve seen it over the last two years”.

“We got it scanned, there’s a little bit of blood there”.

Canada’s influential flanker Tyler Ardron now looks set to beat his knee injury in time to face Ireland this weekend.

“It was probably only halfway through this year that the World Cup first came into my mind”, said White, who swapped Waikato for Ireland in 2011.

Fitzgerald has played at inside centre previously for Schmidt, during the Kiwi’s time in charge at Leinster.

“To represent the country where I’m from, all my family….” You have got to win at least two games to be assured of that.

From New Zealand’s pre-game ritual the haka to the drama of the television match official overruling the referee on the pitch, there’s a lot to admire about rugby from the comfort of your own home. 2007 South Africa carry the World Cup in 2007 (David Davies/PA Wire) Started with France being embarrassed on the Stade de France by Argentina on the opening night time and ended with South Africa beating England 15-6 within the ultimate, when Mark Cueto had a controversial attempt dominated out.

“We’d like to think so anyway”.

The Rugby World Cup’s great underachievers: Ireland.

“We’ve had some really good progress but what we haven’t done is we haven’t treasured the ball enough”.

“He can slot into our formation seamlessly, so he’s a flair player, a very exciting player and I’m looking forward to playing with him. I went for it”, he says. A comparison undertaken by the BBC of British rugby players between 1962 and 2012 showed that their average weight increased from 85.7kg to 104kg, and the weight is still piling on; in 2012 England’s forwards averaged 112.9kg, while today that figure tips 114kg. You focus on the fact that he’s bigger than you – ‘Oh God, he’s still bigger than me!’ – and that multiplies and snowballs. Aside from a few youth games during family vacations back to Canada, Evan has never played for Capilano but he’s thrilled that the club has basically adopted him as an honourary member.

“This can be a reside debate, together with that surrounding the worldwide season, and the Champions Cup last must be on the centre of it. These selections can’t be taken in isolation, however we could have our say”.

The Aussie feels Ireland are strong in most areas, including the fact that they have the best outhalf in the world, but worries about their ability to score tries.

Crowley’s biggest fear is Canada will lose funding from World Rugby, the sport’s governing body, if it continues to fall in the rankings. But full-back Rob Kearney knows not to take anything for granted…