Ireland relishing facing 'world-class' New Zealand

Emily Lane is looking forward to the challenge of facing New Zealand

Women's Rugby World Cup - Pool C: Ireland v New Zealand

Venue: Brighton & Hove Albion Stadium Date: Sunday, 7 September Kick-off: 14:45 BST

Coverage: Live on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer from 14:30, BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra from 14:30 and BBC Radio Ulster and Foyle from 14:00 with live with text commentary on the BBC Sport website.

Scrum-half Emily Lane says Ireland are "raring to go" and "looking forward to the challenge" of facing defending champions New Zealand in Sunday's World Cup Pool C decider in Brighton.

Both sides have already reached the quarter-finals after winning their opening two matches with bonus points, but the winner of Sunday's game will top the group.

"It's great that we have qualified but we all want to go out this weekend and perform, put our hand up and try to top the pool," said Lane.

"We just want to show the world that we're capable of competing with the top-class teams in the world like New Zealand, who have won the World Cup six times.

"They are a world-class team and we respect that so we want to bring our best foot forward going into this game."

Ireland beat Japan 42-14 in their opening game before defeating Spain 43-27 last weekend, but Lane knows there are some areas of performance to address before facing the might of the Black Ferns.

"You have to recognise the positives but we still have room for improvement, we want to minimise our penalties, be more physical and stop those tries.

"As backs we have been working on executing in the green zone, scoring tries, and I think we've been doing that.

"Hopefully we can put into practice what we've been trying to fix from those two games."

'It feels like a home World Cup'

Ireland secured a sensational 29-27 win over the world champions in their most recent meeting, a WXV1 encounter in Vancouver last September.

"That was a different time for us. For me personally I'd just come into the squad so I was still kind of finding my feet a bit and watching a few other people take the lead, whereas now I'm more embedded within the team," explained the Ireland Sevens Paris Olympian.

Ireland played their opening two World Cup fixtures in Northampton, but have moved to Brighton for Sunday's game, with a near-capacity 30,000 crowd expected to be in attendance at the Brighton & Hove Albion Stadium.

The majority will be supporting Scott Bemand's side.

"The most exciting thing about this whole World Cup is the support, the fact that we're so close to home as well, it nearly feels like a home World Cup.

"The crowd in Northampton were unbelievable and there will be three times that amount this weekend. It's so exciting and it's such a privilege to have that support."