Adam Byrnes to meet familiar faces in Australian lineup during Bears last match of Rugby World Cup
The Russian national Rugby Union team’s lock, Adam Byrnes, is geared up to meet his Super Rugby team-mates in their upcoming 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) encounter against the Wallabies. Byrnes, who made his international debut for Russia earlier this year,
plays his professional rugby with Australian Rugby Union outfits and is familiar with many of the players on the Australian national team.
Byrnes currently plays for Super Rugby’s newest entrants, Melbourne Rebels. Previously, he has played for the 2011 Super Rugby Champions, Queensland Reds. The players of both these teams will lineup against him in Russia’s upcoming Pool C encounter against
Australia on Saturday, October 1 at Trafalgar Park, Nelson.
Saturday’s game will be Russia’s last match of the tournament, which most likely will end without a win.
Byrnes, who is rated as one of the most aggressive players in Australia, has the potential to deliver more injuries to the Wallabies, who are already struggling with a number of setbacks. However, Byrnes has denounced any red card tackles and vowed that
he will not be the first to indulge in “any off-the-ball activity.”
Byrnes further added, “There’s 15 of them and there's one of me. We are mates off the field. Once the game's on, it's on, and afterwards we'll relax and have a good time as well.”
Newly appointed Wallabies Captain, James Horwill, who previously led Brynes at Reds, has expressed his confidence in his ability to neutralise Byrnes’ aggressive game style. He said, “I'm sure with his type of game he's hoping he gets an opportunity to square
us up a little bit. We'll be prepared for that.”
Australian international back row forward player, Scott Higginbotham, has also spoken about Byrnes. He expects that the player has prepared something special for them as he added, “I always like to play that physical type of rugby and coming up against a
guy like Adam Byrnes, if you get the chance to play against him.”
After Saturday’s match, Byrnes will leave for Moscow and will return to Australia after the holidays.
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