Over the 8 World Cups, semi final places have been largely confined to the Big 5. New Zealand have made 7 semi finals, Australia & France 6, South Africa (from 6 appearances, having not played in 1987 & 91) and England 4 each. Thatās 27 of 32 semi final slots. Of the other 5 semi finalists, only Wales in the inaugural World Cup in 1987 beat one of the so called Big 5 in a quarter final. Wales beat England in Brisbane in 1987 but England were utterly shite then, they got the Wooden Spoon in the 1987 Championship, Wales used to beat them pretty much everytime they played them back then and the renaissance and revival in English rugby was still about 18 months away. Scotland made their only semi final courtesy of beating Western Samoa in the quarter final.
From an Irish perspective, the first four World Cupās from the amateur era and the decade horriblis of the 90ās were a write off. Ireland were just terrible then. 2003 & 2011 quarter final exits were about par for what we had in those tournaments. 2007 and 2015 were the two big disappointments. 2015 for the fact, that injury and a suspension robbed us of a very realistic chance of getting to the final. 2007 was an utter disaster. We should have been flying in that tournament, but we were utterly flat, overtrained and not at match pitch. Buck stops with Coach OāSullivan there.
Thatās true, but in the case of both Wales in 1987 and Scotland in 1991, Ireland had the chance to get themselves into the positions those teams found themselves in, but lost to them in the group stage.
Thatās a very contradictory post when compared to your nonsense the other day about the geographical spread of teams reaching the rugger semi finals compared to soccerā¦ now it appears to be the same big names every tournament ā¦ the same crowd that dont have to go through a qualifying campaign ā¦ youāre clamping yourself here, Geoff.
Whereās the contradiction? Thereās a great geographical spread within the Big 5. A representative from Brexit UK, Continental Europe, Africa, Australasia and Oceania. Post me up a list of teams from Australasia, Oceania and Africa that have made it to the soccer World Cup semi final.
Iāll ask you again. Post me up a list of all the representatives from Australasia, Africa and Oceania who have mixed it in the semi finals of a soccer World Cup with the likes of Germany and Brazil. Iām sure the list is quite extensive, thereās been 20 soccer World Cups.
Rugby was amateur in most countries in 1987 and 1991 and Ireland was most assuredly in the amateur camp. What happened to Ireland in the 1987 and 1991 World Cup has zero relevance to 2019 in Japan. As an aside, losing the coach Mick Doyle to a heart attack on the day they team arrived in Auckland in 1987 wasnāt exactly ideal preparation for the opening game against Wales a few days later. Ireland were muck in the early 90ās. They didnāt win a game in the 1991 Championship, avoided a whitewash by drawing in Cardiff and were whitewashed in the Championship in 1992 a few months after the 1991 World Cup. Scotland had probably their finest ever team then, having won a Grand Slam in 1990. Ireland went from 1988 to 2000 without beating Scotland. Scotland had the not inconsiderable advantage of that 1991 pool game played in Murrayfield.
You only have 5 teams from the same 5 places - your point is moot. - Of course you have teams from those places, as youāve pointed out yourself, they are your only teams
I could be as stupid as you and ask you how many South American winners have there been of the RWC? what with itās 500m people, surely a South American team have won it out ā Countries like Brasil, with itās 207 million population have surely rattled NZ, what with itās paltry 3.5m ā¦ What about central America?with over 50m population, surely a team from this region has won the RWC, Mexico? ā¦ No, of course, what am I thinking, Europe has probably swallowed up all the titles ā what with all that economic might behind European nations and it being a European game/strongholdā¦ I presume it has been won multiple times by European nations just like in soccer?
Thatās all great and we all know about Mick Doyleās heart attack and Finlay Calder taking out Jim Staples and all that, but Irelandās failure to perform has spread across all eight World Cups, not just the first two - and letās be fair - that 1991 tournament and particularly that narrow quarter-final loss against the then title sponsor-free Wallabies is still actually regarded as the high water mark in Irelandās World Cup history, as in it was the only time Ireland came out of a World Cup having somewhat enhanced their reputation, rather than damaged it.
Are NZ not savage value at 13/10 @gilgamboa when you consider second favourites Ireland look like they will have to beat the 3 big southern hemisphere teams to win it.
Ireland are an awful price when you look at how the draw has worked out for them
ā the exact same every time 