Ireland better placed than ever for elusive Rugby World Cup success

DUBLIN – After three consecutive quarter-final exits at the Rugby World Cup, world No. 1 Ireland can justifiably say this time really is different when they make the short trip to France as genuine contenders.

While a pool with two other top-five sides in South Africa and Scotland and a likely last-eight clash with France or New Zealand raises the risk of even more heartache, this is without doubt the best Irish team to push for a maiden spot in the semi-finals or beyond.

Andy Farrell’s side have won 25 of their last 27 games in a run stretching back to early 2021 that includes wins over each of the world’s top-10 sides, and recent standout performances against both of their potential quarter-final opponents.

There is also a calm confidence about the camp that captain Johnny Sexton has long put down to Farrell’s approach of openly talking about building towards the tournament, in contrast to each of the fly-half’s previous three World Cup experiences.

“I think we’ve changed our mentality over the years that we can talk about looking forward to it, going and attacking it and not being pressured by having a high ranking or expectations,” he said.

“We’ve had expectations on us for the last 18 months and we’ve lived up to some of it. But we’re still not where we want to be, we feel there’s more in us.”

Sexton, who turned 38 in August and will retire after the tournament, remains as crucial as ever to his team’s chances.

An injury at fly-half, where nobody has come close to unseating the Six Nations’ highest scorer for over a decade, would be hard to recover from.

But Ireland are loaded elsewhere with the kind of depth and versatility needed for an attritional seven weeks, while they will also need Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan, Garry Ringrose and World Player of the Year Josh van der Flier to stay fit and in top form.

If they do, it is hard to find many weaknesses with Farrell’s Ireland as they seek to get off to a winning start against Romania on Saturday.

The former England assistant’s blueprint took a couple of so-so years to bed in, but the Irish are now far less predictable in attack while remaining ultra disciplined, punishingly accurate with their kicking game and more miserly than ever in defence.

The 2023 Grand Slam winners have scored an average of more than four tries a game in the last two Six Nations campaigns while conceding an average of just one every 80 minutes, a record none of their rivals come close to.

They can also beat teams in a variety of ways, overwhelming France at their own attacking game in February before overcoming Pool B opponents Scotland two games later with van der Flier throwing in at the line-out and three props in the front row.

While Ireland did not quite exhibit the warm-up form of their main pool rivals South Africa and looked notably rusty at the maul and line-out, they go to France as the world’s top-ranked team for good reason.

“We want to win the competition, why wouldn’t we?” Farrell simply said of the seven-time quarter-finalists. REUTERS