The IRISH RUGBY thread

[bennydorano]

This is very unlike Rugby folk, getting the excuses in early. Should you not wait for the inevitable quarter final collapse first?

Channelling your inner Ewan there Itchy.

[JoG2]

This is very unlike Rugby folk, getting the excuses in early. Should you not wait for the inevitable quarter final collapse first?

Channelling your inner Ewan there Itchy.

The 'Trailer' of the rugby thread

[theticklemister]

When do we win this world cup lads?

If we don't win it this year, we will win it next year

[seafoid]

When do we win this world cup lads?

If they don't win it with this team they won't win it ever

We are in the wrong half of the draw with all the big guns. If the Ireland of last summer and this yrs 6 nation's turns up then we have a real chance. Unfortunately history doesn't bode well. We have gone into previous world cups looking good and then shit our pants against the likes of Argentina and Japan teams we normally smash for fun

The draw is a pile of shite. World Rugby need to sort this for future WCs.

The draw was the last  thing Ireland needed.

[weareros]

I know rugby is an intense physical game, and players require recovery time. But a World Cup that runs from Sept 8th to October 28th is over the top. Especially given that there's 5 or 6 teams at most capable of winning it.

[Itchy]

This is very unlike Rugby folk, getting the excuses in early. Should you not wait for the inevitable quarter final collapse first?

Channelling your inner Ewan there Itchy.

The 'Trailer' of the rugby thread

Not fair, I am all about inclusivity. I think its great that there is a place big useless donkeys and posh boys can play sport.

[Milltown Row2]

This is very unlike Rugby folk, getting the excuses in early. Should you not wait for the inevitable quarter final collapse first?

Channelling your inner Ewan there Itchy.

The 'Trailer' of the rugby thread

Not fair, I am all about inclusivity. I think its great that there is a place big useless donkeys and posh boys can play sport.

You'd be in some shape if ya mentioned that to one of them 

[Itchy]

This is very unlike Rugby folk, getting the excuses in early. Should you not wait for the inevitable quarter final collapse first?

Channelling your inner Ewan there Itchy.

The 'Trailer' of the rugby thread

Not fair, I am all about inclusivity. I think its great that there is a place big useless donkeys and posh boys can play sport.

You'd be in some shape if ya mentioned that to one of them 

Now why would I do such a thing. That would be like climbing into a cage in the zoo with a Grizzly Bear and telling him he lacks the ball skills in his feet to play a real field game. He wouldn't understand and then he'd bate the shite out of me

[Captain Scarlet]

For years we hear about the conveyor belt but Sexton, Murray, Earls and Co are still big parts of the set-up.

Will it go off a cliff after the World Cup?

[Joeythelips]

Just arrived on this thread and notice the draw. Jesus if Ireland want to win the wold cup it looks like they will need 2 squads of players.

South Africa (holders, who just smashed the All Blacks) and Scotland in the group.
Get out the group and face France or All Blacks in quarter finals.
Most likely Australia in semis
South Africa/All Blacks/France in final. 
Good luck with that

[From the Bunker]

As far as i know draw was made in December 2020.

Nearly 3 years ago.........

[seafoid]

For years we hear about the conveyor belt but Sexton, Murray, Earls and Co are still big parts of the set-up.

Will it go off a cliff after the World Cup?

Murray and Earls are more backup now. Sexton has been known to be retiring so there has been planning. I heard on RTE that there were 19 changes since 2019 so a lot of change has happened already.

[Captain Scarlet]

Is it fair to say a lot of those lads coming in are not nailing down chances so it's a churn?

[Hound]

Is it fair to say a lot of those lads coming in are not nailing down chances so it's a churn?

Nope, that doesn't make sense.

This is probably the best team we've ever had and definitely the best World Cup squad we've ever had.
The bookies say the best four teams in the world are quite a bit ahead of the rest, and most followers of rugby would agree.
Ireland are one of those 4, but ranked by the oddsmakers as 4th favourites, very slightly behind the other 3.
Can the 4th best team win the World Cup? Yes.
Is it likely? No.
While it's our best squad, we've more depth in some positions than others. Injuries/suspensions are likely to have a bigger adverse impact on us that the other 3 contenders.

We're very close to France. When we play it is the home team that are marginal favourites.
We're no longer afraid of New Zealand. Most of our players have won more than they've lost against them. But a World Cup quarter-final would be a different beast. Barring injuries we're evenly matched, but NZ would have the edge in having that inner belief that NZ always win these type of games.
Ireland play South Africa in the group stages. Another 50/50, but I wouldn't pay a huge amount of attention to the result. Like Kerry v Mayo this year, it's a game both teams will want to win, but everyone will know that while a win should certainly be advantageous, it's not do or die. It will be slightly below 100%.
I don't think we can beat South Africa in a true knockout game. In the unlikely scenario of Ireland winning the World Cup, in my view it would require one of France/NZ taking out the Boks in the quarter final.

We're likely to be edged out in the quarter-final. That won't be a failure. That will be meeting expectations given the draw. A failure would be a hammering, or losing to Scotland in the group stages. Scotland are much better than England or Wales, and probably at the same level as Australia, so should not be underestimated- but we should have too much for them.

[An Watcher]

Although unlikely to happen I do think there would be merit playing a second string against South Africa.  Its a marathon, not a sprint and considering the draw we have we coukd focus on Scotland and NZ/France in the quarters.
What will probably happen us we'll get beat up against South Africa win or lose and get beat by SA/France in the quarters as a result