WRWC2014: Teams up for Ireland v Kazakhstan.

Ireland coach Philip Doyle has made a surprising ten changes to the starting line up for Ireland’s match against Kazakhstan tomorrow afternoon, their last Pool game in the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

It’s a surprising number of changes from the normally cautious Doyle, who only utilised 23 players in the whole of the Grand Slam Six Nations in 2013, and, with Ireland only one game away from their first ever top four finish, it’s a rather audacious selection.

There is a backbone of experience in Gill Bourke, Larissa Muldoon, Tania Rosser, Grace Davitt and captain Lynne Cantwell together with a sprinkling of seasoned players in Fiona Hayes, Laura Guest and Siobhan Fleming but, even at that, it’s still easily the least experienced side Ireland have fielded in the last three years.

However, with two huge games in the offing it’s definitely the right call to rest key players and give the whole team experience and, don’t worry, if things don’t go to plan there is a big comfortable blanket of experience on the bench that can come on to change the game.

Such is the measure of Ireland’s rapid progression to the upper echelons of the women’s game that they will still be overwhelming favourites to win this one even though the teams have met four times before and Kazakhstan have won three to Ireland’s one.

Kazakhstan’s last win was fourteen years ago in 2000 and Ireland won the last meeting 37 – 3 in the 2010 Women’s World Cup though they did struggle for large periods of the first half if my memory serves me correctly.

To add further comfort to Ireland’s cause their opponents are the youngest, smallest and, by some stretch, the lightest side in Pool B and while they may offer some spirited resistance it really should be Ireland’s day.

Any win at all will put Ireland into the top four play offs, most likely as the third ranked qualifier. With the top two unbeaten sides playing each other in the other two pools it’s still a bit of a lottery as to who they will actually play with England, France, Canada and Australia all a possibility. However I’m predicting France to beat Australia and Canada to beat England with Canada Ireland’s next opponents.

IRELAND		KAZAKHSTAN
Jackie Shiels	15	Aigerym Daurembayeva
Vikki McGinn	14	Oxana Shadrina
Lynne Cantwell (C)	13	Anna Yakovleva (C)
Grace Davitt	12	Balzhan Koishybayeva
Hannah Casey	11	Lyudmila Sapronova
Tania Rosser	10	Svetlana Klyuchnikova
Larissa Muldoon	9	Amina Baratova
Fiona Hayes	1	Yelena Muradova
Gillian Bourke	2	Yelena Yevdokimova
Kerri Ann Craddock	3	Olga Bakhtiguzina
Laura Guest	4	Lyudmila Matiyeva
Orla Fitzsimons	5	Svetlana Karatygina
Sharon Lynch	6	Symbat Zhamankulova
Siobhan Fleming	7	Kundyzay Baktybayeva
Paula Fitzpatrick	8	Marianna Balashova
Fiona Coghlan	16	Irina Radzevil
Ailis Egan	17	Yelena Rogacheva
Sophie Spence	18	Yelena Kiryushina
Claire Molloy	19	Karina Proskurina
Nora Stapleton	20	Anastassiya Khamova
Alison Miller	21	Aigul Dairbayeva
Ashleigh Baxter	22	Olga Sazonova