Oireland wont get past the quarter final stage next year.
The injuries will pile up before the quarter final next year and they’ll be knocked out by SA most likely.
Strength and depth is there to an extent but arguably Oireland had a better team in 2007, and history tells us how that went.
Beating NZ in a November friendly is one thing. Cant see them doing it in a knockout WC game when it matters.
Schmidts rugby is horrible to watch as well.
There’s so many inaccuracies in this but our strength in depth in 13/15 of the positions is incredible. Our team now is vastly superior to the 07 team. Ireland will be in the final against the all blacks.
Post both reported and saved
I’m no expert but werent we led to believe that the 2007 group were our golden generation. D’Arcy and O’Driscoll at that time at least were able to run from anywhere. Our centers now are more or less glorified forwards bashing into defensive lines.
Im most likely wrong, have no great interest, but Schmidts game does seem to be very risk averse even compared to Eddie O’Sullivans.
Aaaaaaaaannnnnd… Mute
Gary ringrose is a rolls Royce of a player. The likes of Marcus Horan, Simon easterbruy, shane Horgan etc wouldn’t get near the team.
You are correct in a lot of what you say but one of the reasons for the optimism this time is the weakness of the opposition. An injury ravaged and limited England team have beaten South Africa this month and were denied victory against New Zealand by a very dubious refereeing decision. Rugby is in a bad way in a lot of countries and so next year’s world cup is a much more open affair. Ireland got the rub of the green with the referee Saturday, if they get similar in Japan they have a real chance of making a semi final for the first time.
He’s not right at all. Our team is vastly superior to 2007.
Ireland didn’t win the Championship between 1985 and 2009. Talented as some of the personnel going to the 2007 World Cup were, they were not the hard nosed proven winners that the current crop are. Ireland under Joe Schmidt have won three Championships in 2014, 15, 18 (with a Grand Slam), won a test in the southern hemisphere against one of the powerhouses for the first time since 1979 and won the Lansdowne Cup in Australia this summer. Comparisons to 2007 are well wide of the mark.
Ewan on the story weeks after everyone else, what a journalist.
Had a quick breeze of Robert’s twitter, he seems a bit of a simpleton jumping from one fashionable cause to the next. That particular tweet was funny though and textbook use of rubby
We should get him to post on here.
Welcome to 10.hours ago.
They’re not very well informed these rugby haters. Over the last 20 months Ireland had won 16 of their 17 previous test matches prior to Saturday. In that run, they’d faced (and beaten) all of the top 14 ranked sides bar Number 1 ranked New Zealand and Number 12 ranked Tonga. A 17th win out of 18 for Ireland may still see New Zealand at Number 1 in the rankings but on current form, Ireland are the top side in the world at the moment.
A limerick hurling halfwit who’s in the pretend sfira and hates the rubby. His lady friend is larger than him too.
Ewan McKenna does himself no favours sometimes.
