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Saturday 1st October 2011 AUSTRALIA KO: 15:30 RUSSIA Trafalgar Park, Nelson Key Facts & Figures Pool scenario The venue (contd) • Australia need to win to be certain of going through to the last • Australia’s match against Italy was also originally slated to be played in eight. A bonus point win will give them first place in the pool as Christchurch. It was moved to Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium. long as Ireland lose to Italy and do not gain two bonus points. • This will be the third and final RWC 2011 match played at Nelson’s Trafalgar Park. For Australia, it will be their first RWC 2011 match here. Head-to-head The Russians suffered a 53-17 defeat against Italy in Nelson on 20 September. • These sides have never met in a Test match. • Nelson is the eighth different city in New Zealand where the Wallabies • Adam Byrnes (RUS) will take on his country of birth. Byrnes, who have played at least one Test match. Australia have a winning record in qualifies for Russia through his maternal grandmother, will be only one of the other seven. They sport a record of two wins and zero meeting several of his old teammates from the Queensland Reds defeats there, having played NZ Maoris there twice in the 1930s. where Byrnes played from 2009 to 2010. His former teammates include Quade Cooper (AUS), Will Genia (AUS), Rob Simmons The line-ups (AUS), Scott Higginbotham (AUS) and current Wallaby captain James Horwill (AUS). • Australia have named Radike Samo (AUS) at right wing for their final Pool C match of RWC 2011 against Russia. Australia • Samo is the first player to start as a forward and a back in the same RWC. Namibia’s Schalk van der Merwe is the only other player to have • Third in the IRB World Rankings. started as a forward and a back at the RWC. Van der Merwe started • Australia have finished runners-up in their pool only once before three matches at inside centre at RWC 1999 and three matches at at the RWC (1995). On all other previous occasions, they finished blindside flanker at RWC 2003. as pool winners. • Australia have made a total of nine player changes to their starting • Against USA, Adam Ashley-Cooper (AUS) recorded the fastest line-up from the side that beat USA. That is the most they have made hat-trick in RWC history by scoring three tries within a space at RWC 2011 having made three changes after their opening match of seven minutes, touching down in the 59th, 64th and 66th against Italy and six changes after their loss to Ireland. They have also minute. made two positional changes with Ben McCalman (AUS) returning to • After 32 matches at RWC 2011, Australia have conceded only 26 his preferred position at number 8 and likewise Adam Ashley-Cooper points, third fewest in the tournament behind South Africa (19) (AUS) moves from the wing to outside centre. and England (22). • The extent of Australia’s injuries is reflected not only by naming Samo • After 32 matches at RWC 2011, Australia have conceded only one on the wing but also having all three of the hookers in the RWC 2011 try, joint fewest with South Africa and England. squad in the match-day 22 and likewise naming all three of the scrum • The Wallabies have conceded one try in their last five RWC halves for this match. matches, against the USA on 23 September, with JJ Gagiano • Luke Burgess (AUS) starts a RWC match for the first time with Will (USA) crossing over. Genia (AUS) and the previously unused Nick Phipps (AUS) both on the • Australia have kept the opposition from scoring a single try in a bench. Phipps, along with hooker Saia Faingaa (AUS) and prop Salesi RWC record 16 different matches, three more than the next best Ma’afu (AUS), are the only three players in Australia’s squad yet to take team in this respect - South Africa on 13. to the field at RWC 2011. All three have been named on the bench for • Drew Mitchell (AUS) has recorded eight career RWC tries, only the match against Russia. two Wallabies have produced more - Chris Latham (AUS) on 11 • Nathan Sharpe (AUS) wins his 98th cap and keeps his chances of and David Campese (AUS) on 10. playing his 100th Test at RWC 2011 alive. This will be his 93rd Test in the starting XV, which breaks George Smith’s record for Australian Russia forwards. • Quade Cooper (AUS) and Adam Ashley-Cooper (AUS) are the only • Twenty-first in the IRB World Rankings, the only team present at Wallabies who have played in all 240 minutes of Australia’s RWC 2011 the RWC not to be ranked in the top 20. campaign. • Russia can become the seventh team to lose all of their first four • Russia coach Nikolay Nerush (RUS) made six changes to his starting RWC matches. The six teams losing their first four RWC matches line-up for the Pool C match against Australia on Saturday, in which were Georgia, Japan, Namibia, Portugal, Tonga and Zimbabwe. the Bears will be fielding their second most experienced XV ever in a • Russia conceded only one try in their RWC 2011 opener against Test match. United States, but have conceded nine tries in each of their last • Russia’s 15 starters have played 543 Test matches between them, two RWC matches. which ranks behind only the aggregate of 569 amassed by the team • Russia have won 81.8% of their own scrums, fewest by any team for the RWC 2011 tie against Italy on 20 September. at RWC 2011. The tournament average is 90.5%. • Vasily Artemyev (RUS) starts at full back and is the only Russia player • Russia have won 60.0% of their own lineouts, fewest by any team not to have missed a single minute in the Bears’ campaign. Artemyev at RWC 2011. The tournament average is 81.9%. At 7.9%, the is one of 10 players who have played in each of their three RWC 2011 Bears are also registering the smallest percentage of opposing matches so far. lineouts won. • Second row Andrey Ostrikov (RUS) has not been selected in the • Russia have made fewer handling errors (18) than any other team match-day 22 for a fourth time in succession and will therefore not at RWC 2011. play at RWC 2011. He is one of only two players from the original • Russia have converted only 40% of their place kicks, a joint 30-man squad to miss out on match time. Centre Igor Galinovskiy tournament low with Namibia. Both teams converted on four of (RUS), the other, was forced out due to injury before the tournament their 10 conversions and penalties combined. started. • Konstantin Rachkov (RUS), the only player who has recorded points in The venue all of Russia’s matches in this tournament, is among the reserves. • Hooker Vladislav Korshunov (RUS) returns to captain the team after he • This was the last of five pool matches initially scheduled to be was rested for the match against Ireland. hosted in Christchurch. This match, four other pool matches and two matches in the knockout phase were moved to other venues. © International Rugby Board 2011. Data extracted from Rugby Information Management System (29/09/2011 16:06). Page 1 Saturday 1st October 2011 AUSTRALIA KO: 15:30 RUSSIA Trafalgar Park, Nelson Team Sheets 15 AUSTRALIA James IRB RANKING: 3 O’Connor Test #: 529 Force Replacements 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau (Waratahs) 14 13 12 11 17 Saia Faingaa (Reds) Radike Adam Berrick Drew 18 Salesi Ma’afu (Brumbies) Samo Ashley-Cooper Barnes Mitchell 19 Rob Simmons (Reds) Reds Brumbies Waratahs Waratahs 20 Rocky Elsom (Brumbies) 21 Will Genia (Reds) 10 9 22 Nick Phipps (Rebels) Quade Luke Cooper Burgess Reds Waratahs Key Stats 8 Ben # Caps Starting Lineup: 533 Avg Age Starting Lineup: 26 McCalman Oldest Player: Radike Samo (35) Force Youngest Player: James O’Connor (21) 6 7 Avg Weight Forwards: 112 kg Scott 5 4 David Higginbotham Pocock Nathan James Reds Sharpe Horwill (C) Force Force Reds Officials 3 2 1 Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand) - 23 Tests Sekope Stephen James Kepu Moore Slipper Tests at Venue: 0 Tests Australia: 10 Tests Waratahs Brumbies Reds Russia: 0 Tests Test Debut: 12/11/2005 - France v Canada Assistant Referee: George Clancy (Ireland) Assistant Referee: 1 2 3 Simon McDowell (Ireland) Sergey Vladislav Ivan Popov Korshunov (C) Prishchepenko TV Match Official: Slava VVA Krasny Yar Shaun Veldsman (South Africa) 4 5 6 Alexander Adam 7 Voytov Byrnes Artem Vyacheslav Fatakhov VVA Rebels Grachev VVA Bizanos 8 Replacements Victor 16 Evgeny Matveev (VVA) Gresev 17 Vladimir Botvinnikov (Enisey STM) VVA 18 Alexey Travkin (VVA) 19 Andrey Garbuzov (Krasny Yar) 9 10 20 Alexander Shakirov (VVA) Alexander Yury 21 Konstantin Rachkov (Stade Phocéen Marseille Yanyushkin Kushnarev Vitrolles) VVA VVA 22 Mikhail Babaev (VVA) 11 12 13 14 Vladimir Alexey Andrey Denis Key Stats Ostroushko Makovetskiy Kuzin Simplikevich Enisey STM Krasny Yar VVA Enisey STM # Caps Starting Lineup: 544 Avg Age Starting Lineup: 28 Oldest Player: Vyacheslav Grachev (38) 15 Youngest Player: Denis Simplikevich (20) Avg Weight Forwards: 109 kg Vasily Artemyev Northampton Saints RUSSIA IRB RANKING: 21 Test #: 132 © International Rugby Board 2011. Data extracted from Rugby Information Management System (29/09/2011 16:06). Page 2 Saturday 1st October 2011 AUSTRALIA KO: 15:30 Trafalgar Park, Nelson Head Coach: Robbie Deans Recent Matches Debut: 14/06/2008 v Ireland (W 18-12) Date Opponent Result Venue Winning Ratio: 56.86% Average Tries per Match: 2.73 23/09/2011 USA W 67 5 Wellington 17/09/2011 Ireland L 6 15 Auckland Australia Record Under Robbie Deans 11/09/2011 Italy W 32 6 Auckland 29 Wins 1 Drawn 21 Lost 27/08/2011 New Zealand W 25 20 Brisbane 1267 For Points 1020 Against 13/08/2011 South Africa W 14 9 Durban 139 For Tries 92 Against 103 For Conversions 67 Against Points For 144