It’s not quite D-Day on Tuesday for Ireland’s men and women in their quest to secure a top-two finish in their World Cup groups. However, having lost their opening games on Sunday, they’re in serious need of positive results against South Africa and New Zealand, respectively.
Both those sides were also beaten in their first games, so these two contests will form something of a dog-fight to remain in contention for that top-two placing going in to Thursday’s final group games.
The South Africans are the outsiders in the men’s group, ranked three places below Ireland at 13 in the world. While those rankings don’t always give the most accurate picture of a nation’s current standing, this is the game Ireland would have most targeted for three points.
Their second-half performance against Australia in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat ultimately counted for nothing. Even so, coach Mark Tumilty will have been encouraged by the team’s response to going 3-0 down after 27 minutes. Admittedly, the Australians appeared content to sit on that lead, but still, a more aggressive, ambitious and pacier effort from Ireland saw them dominate in the second half.
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A similar approach will be needed against a South African side with which Ireland drew 3-3 in their last meeting, in the Nations Cup in June. Australia and Spain, favourites to fill those top-two slots, meet earlier in the day. Spain will be Ireland’s final group opponents on Thursday.
Ireland’s women, meanwhile, need to pick themselves up after conceding a winner five minutes from time in Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Spain. Gareth Grundie’s side did well to twice come from a goal down, but it was a disappointingly patchy performance and Spain deserved their win.
New Zealand, meanwhile, went down 5-2 to group favourites and co-hosts Belgium in their opening game, having taken a shock lead. Their last meeting with Ireland ended in a 1-1 draw in the Nations Cup final in March of last year, before New Zealand prevailed on penalties.
A draw for Ireland would just about keep them alive in the group, if only by the slenderest of threads – their last group game is against the Belgians, the world’s third-ranked side.
Defeat would see Ireland drop into the ninth-to-16th classification phase of the tournament. Their best hope of avoiding that fate probably involves beating New Zealand and then digging out a point against Belgium. No easy ask, but this crew have never shied away from a challenge.
World Cup (Tuesday) - Women: Ireland v New Zealand, 10am. Men: Ireland v South Africa, 4pm. Both games are live on RTÉ2.
