IN ALL FAIRNESS - Calling Ireland’s World Cup hopes

So, after what feels like an interminable buildup, the tenth Rugby Union World Cup gets underway in France this Friday night. I don’t know what it is about rugby union where barely has the previous World Cup concluded than the build-up to the next one begins with the term “World Cup cycle” almost exclusively the oval ball game concept.

There is a lot of rugby in between, four Six Nations Championships which is effectively an annual European Championships among the six best teams in the Northern Hemisphere, plus the summer and autumn internationals, plus the financial behemoth that is the Lions Tour, which is the one remaining part of the old amateur era when it was the biggest thing in rugby ever four years.

The Lions concept remains popular among fans, and particularly the money men in World Rugby as it largely funds the struggling Australia, New Zealand, and South African unions for a good chunk of the twelve years between their turn to host.

However, the World Cup is the pinnacle of world rugby and its growth tournament on tournament is such that there are more contenders now than ever before to win the Webb Ellis Cup.

Ireland are one of them, and there is no point in downplaying it. World rankings or not, Ireland are one of the best in the world and one of the four that are touted as possible winners. Okay, our World Cup record has been poor, having failed to get beyond the quarter final stages before, but records are there to be broken.

People might say that Ireland shouldn’t look beyond a quarter final, or even getting out of the group which will be no easy task up against defending champions South Africa, a quickly improving Scotland, and a dangerous Tonga who are now benefitting from the new eligibility rules which allows former All Blacks and Wallabies to play for the country of their ancestry. The Romania opener next Saturday should be routine.

The fact that Ireland are among the contenders might make their task of breaking new ground in the competition a little easier. If Ireland don’t target winning the World Cup, they won’t. If Ireland’s focus is on winning a quarter final, and they do, you can be sure they’ll lose the semi-final. The quest is to go the whole way and playing in a quarter final needs to be seen as a means to an end.

I’m sure if Ireland do get to a quarter final, all the old horror stories from World Cups past will be brought up, but that is something Head Coach Andy Farrell will have planned for with the addition of renowned performance coach Gary Keegan to his set-up, a man key in Ireland’s boxing resurgence in the 2000’s.

Ireland’s previous World Cup experiences haven’t been all bad. There was 1991 and the agonising quarter final defeat to Australia who went onto win the tournament. 1999 was a low point and the loss to Argentina in Lens, but Irish rugby was a mess then. The low point was 2007 when a previously highly touted Ireland team went to a World Cup but under-performed massively and failed to progress from the group.

In 2011, Ireland won their group in New Zealand, including beating Australia, before walking into a classic Warren Gatland Wales hay-maker in the quarter final. 2015 was unlucky in that Ireland won their group but the crucial win over France proved costly as injuries sustained by Paul O’Connell, Johnny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony and Jarred Payne, added to by a suspension picked up Sean O’Brien, proved to move to contend with in the quarter final against Argentina.

In 2019 in Japan, Ireland got to the quarter finals, but it was clear they were a year passed their peak. The hope is that Ireland have gotten the timing of their preparations for this World Cup just right, and apart from the injury to Cian Healy, appear to be in rude health personnel wise.

It is all about performing now and embracing the pressure and expectancy rather than fearing it. The hype among the fans going into this tournament isn’t the same as the last two as the mental scars of the disappointment remains so no one is getting ahead of themselves. Then, there is the horror of the draw where Ireland have to come through a brute of a group, only to have France or New Zealand likely waiting in the quarter finals, so it is a case of picking your poison in that regard.

Arguably, Ireland’s best chance of winning a quarter final might be through New Zealand as France at home will be a tough ask, but that path will become clearer this Friday when France and New Zealand clash in the tournament opener with the winner set to top the group, but what odds a draw to keep everyone guessing. Let the games begin!