If we were living in an alternative world, where Heyneke Meyer was coaching Ireland and Joe Schmidt was coaching South Africa, would Ireland still be ranked second in the world?
As an Irishman I still look at the rugby world rankings with a certain amount of bewilderment. Do we really have better players than South Africa and Australia?
It is questionable. What we do have is quality in the key positions.
We have tactical masterminds at half back through Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton, which the Springboks and the Aussies arguably lack, and ferocity in the pack with Paul O’Connell, ‘The Tullow Tank’ Sean O’Brien and Cian Healy.
The main strength of Ireland is their powerful rucking at the breakdown. Against England at the Aviva Stadium earlier this year, Ireland won an astonishing 117 out of 118 rucks. Contrast this with England who lost six out of their 84 rucks.
Ireland have a number of potent poachers all over the field. O’Brien, Peter O’Mahony, Rory Best and Healy are all relentless at the breakdown.
Ireland have a genuine chance of getting to at least the World Cup semi-finals. We should have too much nous for the French in the group stage, in what will be a critical game for both teams.
France versus Ireland should be David versus Goliath, shouldn’t it? After all France has an incredible 360,847 registered rugby players. This is three times more rugby players than in Ireland.
Instead the Rugby World Cup match is being branded by much of the media as the mercurial French versus the mundane Irish. This is the beauty of sport and rugby in particular. No team has a divine right to beat any other nation regardless of the population.
It also features the individual battle I’m looking forward to most in the Rugby World Cup. The sight of Sean O’Brien and Louis Picamoles running at each other is sure to make any spectator quench.
So how do Ireland compensate for inferior numbers? Much like New Zealand, with an abundance of intelligence and heart.
“A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether”.
This is Roy H. William’s definition of intelligence and it certainly rings true in the case of Ireland and Joe Schmidt. With the former part bearing relevance to Ireland and the latter part Schmidt.
The IRFU convinced the former Leinster coach to take charge of the national team in 2013. At the time Ireland were ranked ninth in the rugby world rankings. Since then Ireland have rocketed up to world number two.
Ireland have won 13 of their last 14 games under him, and in general when they do lose it is because of a lack of quality at centres (ironically the place we used to be strongest at). A clear example of this was the 32 phases Ireland went through against Wales.
The Irish centres were about as threatening as Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Contrast this with the wide variety of quality centres South Africa and Australia have at their disposal.
Ireland are defending Six Nations champions and have beaten everybody in the past two years apart from New Zealand. For this reason alone they are full value for their ranking.
Dublin Dave
Guest
All the SH Teams meeting on one side of the draw? What are you talking about sir? The way things stand, two semifinalists will emerge from the groups containing England, Wales, Scotland, South Africa, Australia Fiji and Samoa. At that point they will each have to play opposition emerging from the groups containing New Zealand, Argentina, Ireland, France, and Italy,. So two of the SH Rugby Championship teams in one half of the draw and two in the other. What's your problem? Impossible, especially given the permutations possible in the England-Australia-Wales-Fiji group to predict accurately what the semi finalist matchups are likely to be. You could get all four SH teams in the semis (unlikely) or even four NH semifinalists (really unlikely) None of which is to say that making the draw a little closer to the event to reflect current form is a bad idea but this tournament is hardly "Stacked" to the detriment of the Southern Hemisphere.
Brendo
Guest
Looking at results I think they do deserve there number 2 ranking. I think it will be a great World Cup. And may the best team win
lassitude
Guest
2/3 = 0.6666 NOT 0.75 And I think you'll find that both Oz and SA play 4 opponents as well not 3.
Cathal
Guest
And France were awarded a try when the player had dropped the ball before grounding it.
Cathal
Guest
Lets be honest, If England or France had achieved what Ireland have achieved in the last 2 years and where ranked second none of us would bat an eyelid so why should we if Ireland are second?
Dublin Dave
Guest
Just to back up your point about Schmidt, PeterK. And apologies if I have shared this true story already. My son is studying for a Sports Management degree in Uni and last season they had a lecture from an executive from the IRFU about the challenges of managing a professional sporting organisation. There are, of course, a lot of balls to be kept in the air and a variety of threats from a constantly changing environment. As part of the Q&A the man was asked what he thought was the single biggest threat facing Irish rugby in the short term. He thought for a moment and then said: "We could be really screwed if New Zealand were to lose their next two matches" "You wha'?" said the students. "What's that got to do with anything?" "Well," he insisted, "If New Zealand lose their next two matches, they'll sack their coach immediately and the man they would want to replace him would be Joe Schmidt, who, let's face it is a Kiwi anyway. If we lose him we're fecked!" Fortunately, the All Blacks kept winning :) True story.
At least Habana apologised both times ;)
Well how about we see if this Irish team that has now surpassed SA and OZ can stand the test of time, or whether it is just another temporary jump
denis whelan
Roar Rookie
In fairness. Ire no 2 due to recent results. Sa dropping due to recent results. The fact that ire have beaten all bar nz in recent past reflects their position. The problem is that nz. Aus and sa expect to be up there and cant accept being beaten and passed by teams they traditionally beat but who have now caught up and are on a par if not better than above. Give credit where credit is due. I would fancy this ire team against anyone regardless of where its played. Maybe it time for south hemp to realise that north hemp teams have significantly improved. Eg ire have world class coach at least 5 world class players backed up with very good players and have vg strength in depth in all positions
I see you are putting a lot of value in that home performance in Novembe last year mate. Good teams are supposed to win their home matches. ;)
Buk
Guest
Birdy I still think we were lucky to win that series, and the Lions unlucky. An intercept by Joe Roff turned one test the Lions could have own, and a lineout steal by Justin Harrison another.
denis whelan
Roar Rookie
bakkies- what about the tries scored against s/a in nov. did not need 32 phases then. sa hammered that day, got in for a soft try at the end when ire had taken their foot off their throats. a bit of perspective please.
denis whelan
Roar Rookie
pot hale/ r u having a laugh ire have beaten all those teams in the last 12 months except nz. so u put the reigning 6 nations champs for last two years in at no 8. seriously. a little bit of common sense and graciousness is required. give credit where credit is due.
denis whelan
Roar Rookie
P give credit where credit is due- ireland 6 nations champs last two years, clean sweep nov internationals of aus & SA, players well used to winning domestic, european competitions, best coach in the world at the helm, some world class players- healy, o connell, sexton, murray, o brien, o mahoney, heaslip, bowe, and some very good youngsters henshaw, mcgrath, zebo, etc. all in all a very potent mix and one which can win this rwc. nz best team in south hemp, irel top team in north hemp after beating s/a and aus in nov so 2 nd in world sounds fair to me/
denis whelan
Roar Rookie
healy, o connell, o brien, (jack McGrath, heaslip, best & o Mahoney) not far off. sexton, murray, bowe, (henshaw, trimble, fitzgerald & kearney) on the bench at least. in fairness, this irish team can and does beat any team recently. even the all blacks would have trouble disposing of joe schmidts men. ire pulverized sa in dublin last november and should have won by more. joe schmidt is class, best coach out there, next lions coach and then all black manager in 2017 and then heaven help us all because they will be untouchable then.
wardad
Guest
I still rate the Boks and Wallabies at level pegging for 2 but I may well be confusing potential with results add in some SH bias and voila" !
Birdy
Guest
That Lions' tour still rankles, Jerry. It was the best Lions team since the legendary 1974 side. I believe they were comfortably a better team than the Aussies as the first test illustrated. I've read a number of comments (not just from England players) about that tour and they all say the same thing. Namely, that Henry beasted them on the training paddock so that they had nothing left in the tank after the first test. They had all come off a long hard season so the last thing they needed was fitness work. I think Henry himself has hinted in various comments since that it wasn't his finest hour as a coach.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yes pretty sad since that coincides with the introduction of the winter tours as well. One win from 22 I get with one draw...Eng SA. That excludes Arg and Italy but even SH others have won more versus the SH 3- Arg beat oz and SA and had a draw, and Samoa beat Oz.
You might be surprised to know it was Scotland vs Australia in that seriously rain affected match in 2012, Scotland won 6-3 That is the only win.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Exactly why they won't go well here. ABs sniff any of that sort of internal politicking out and turn it back on the Lions, who are usually their own worst enemies. At some level there's always some animosity. The lead up to the tour is just amazing with all the dynamics of who should go on tour. England and Wales tossing over who should have the most players, Ireland and Scotland just wanting certain key favourites in as a minimum etc etc.