Kumuls wary of Ireland

Sports

By ISAAC LIRI
KUMULS coach Michael Marum is under no illusions as to the threat Ireland pose in Sunday’s World Cup Pool C decider.
Marum said he was not taking the Irish lightly and knew they would be an entirely different proposition to the Welsh.
“This is a very experienced Irish team that got a good win over Italy and showed that they have the players who can follow a game plan and execute well,” Marum said.
“We understand that. We’ve seen the video and know what they can do but we’ve got our own game to worry about and if we play to the best of our ability then we will do well.”
With both sides having won their opening round of matches and with Wales facing an uphill battle to beat Fiji the winner of the match at the National Football Stadium will all but secure the top berth in the pool and advance to the quarterfinals.
Ireland’s ability to control the pace of the game will go a long way to determining who wins Wolfhounds coach Mark Aston said.
The Irish mentor who will lead his team to their first meeting with the Kumuls said they were quietly confident in their ability to compete against Marum’s men who had put Gaelic cousins Wales to the sword in the opening week of the World Cup.
Aston said the high stakes match up would be a tough assignment for his team but the home side would also be under pressure given they were in front of their fans and were the favourites.
Aston said good game management could get them through.
“In such conditions, it is important to manage the game well and that’s what our play makers have to do,” Aston said.
“There is a nice balance of players in our team, we got some youth and some experience. We got a good group of forwards there who can roll with anyone.
“We don’t know plenty about the Kumuls but we’ve certainly watched a lot of their games and this will be a special moment because I can imagine that there will be a lot of people.
“We talk a lot about memories as a group and we had a great memory last week and we want to come here and create some more good memories,” Aston said.
Fixtures: Fri, Nov 3 – Australia v France; Sat, Nov 4 – New Zealand v Scotland, Samoa v Tonga, England v Lebanon; Sun, Nov 5 – Italy v USA, Papua New Guinea v Ireland, Fiji v Wales.