Joanh Lomu fancies Ireland to surprise.

Jonah Lomu reckons Ireland are the dark horses for the RWC.

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/rugby-world-cup/news/110715/Lomu_tips_Ireland_to_surprise

Do you agree?

Irelands aging team? not sure if thats a fair assessment to be honest. an aweful lot of players under 27 willl be starting for ireland.

I disagree. They seem incapable of beating France.

Aging team? Tired stereotype. Its no older than any other team.

nottins_jones wrote:I disagree. They seem incapable of beating France.

The french might not come into the equation. either way i dont think ireland will do it

They might not. But if you can't beat France how do you expect to beat Aus, SA or NZ...

Actually my dream scenario is for Ireland and Wales to top their pools then meet in a quarter final, I think that's how it will pan out anyway.

All teams are aging. It's one of the facts of life.

All he says is a lot of the Irish players are coming to the end of their careers. Maybe not a lot not a fair few key players will probably have their last World Cup. It was the article writer who used the term "aging"

the most shocking thing is that he refered to the Fijians as Polynesians I thought they were Melanesian?

nottins_jones wrote:They might not. But if you can't beat France how do you expect to beat Aus, SA or NZ...

Actually my dream scenario is for Ireland and Wales to top their pools then meet in a quarter final, I think that's how it will pan out anyway.

The same could be said for all 6 nations teams (bar france) cant beat NZ. England can beat Ireland, Wales can't beat and SH team, Aus struggle against NZ.

every team seem to have a boggy team

Ireland can't beat France or NZ but they do ok agains SA and Aus

red_stag wrote:Ireland can't beat France or NZ but they do ok agains SA and Aus

Yeah at home. Ireland has never beaten SA at home, in fact not too fond of travelling there.

biltongbek wrote:

red_stag wrote:Ireland can't beat France or NZ but they do ok agains SA and Aus

Yeah at home. Ireland has never beaten SA at home, in fact not too fond of travelling there.

Thats why SA would be favourites. However the things that happened in the 1950s and 1960s have no bearing. SA would be favourties if they met but I think Ireland could win.

Of course they can win, they have been earning that belief, even if it was at home.

biltongbek wrote:Of course they can win, they have been earning that belief, even if it was at home.

Its a stepping stone process. If they win the test series over France this summer (which I think they could) they gather a LOT of confidence.

Ireland are playing France in a world cup warm up?

nottins_jones wrote:Ireland are playing France in a world cup warm up?

Twice and also England and Scotland.

nottins_jones wrote:They might not. But if you can't beat France how do you expect to beat Aus, SA or NZ...

Actually my dream scenario is for Ireland and Wales to top their pools then meet in a quarter final, I think that's how it will pan out anyway.

If they both top their groups they won't play each other in a quarter final.

I do agree with Jonah and I disagree that we can't beat France. In fact the only team that I don't belive we can beat if we play well is NZ.

Unfortunately I don't have faith in our management to get our selection and tactics right and utilise the bench and squad effectively. We also have a habit of making silly individual errors and not taking the right option a times so the likelyhood of us stringing 3 or 4 top performances together, which is what we will need, is highly unikely.

I actually think the real dark horses are Wales. They have a fantastic squad of players and no one really expects them to do anything, even their own fans.

biltongbek wrote:

red_stag wrote:Ireland can't beat France or NZ but they do ok agains SA and Aus

Yeah at home. Ireland has never beaten SA at home, in fact not too fond of travelling there.

SA won't be at home in NZ though! And as Lomu said, NZ climate will suit us.

Not sure why Ireland don't travel to SA more - possibly because of being able to get 2/3 tests against NZ & Aus. rather than just 2 against the Springboks maybe and then their is an added difficulty of altitude as well?

Some of the same issues with Argentina - we don't go there much either.

Don't know why everyone is getting in a twist about the Ireland team aging - most of Ireland's iconic players have hit their 30s (BOD, D'Arcy, POC, DOC, ROG, Wally). Maybe we will have a new, younger crop of iconic players after the RWC!

="Sin éNot sure why Ireland don't travel to SA more - possibly because of being able to get 2/3 tests against NZ & Aus. rather than just 2 against the Springboks maybe and then their is an added difficulty of altitude as well?

We normally play 3 tests before the Tri Nations, so that can't be it.

Perhaps, that confidence they have been building, will dissipate at altitude?

I believe that Ireland have a 3 Test Series to South Africa in either 2014 or 2016, I can't remember which.

Also, that last time Ireland played a Test Series in South Africa, we weren't exactly humiliated losing 31-17 and 26-17 to a team that was about to go on and win the Tri-Nations.

MBTGOG wrote:I believe that Ireland have a 3 Test Series to South Africa in either 2014 or 2016, I can't remember which.

Also, that last time Ireland played a Test Series in South Africa, we weren't exactly humiliated losing 31-17 and 26-17 to a team that was about to go on and win the Tri-Nations.

Plus Ireland are better now than then

I'm not surprised he said he'd formed this opinion based on watching Leinster. They were brilliant last year. But Ireland weren't. Is everyone forgetting that Ireland have only played one good game in the last 18 months?

If we play like we did against England, we have a chance of beating anyone. But Ireland haven't strung two good performances together since 2009, let alone the 6 or so performances you need to win a World Cup.

Can't wait for the world cup, but as it stands I'm not that optimistic about our chances. I hope I'm wrong.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Is everyone forgetting that Ireland have only played one good game in the last 18 months?

Yeah Feckless but the important thing is that the good one was the last one....and as the old saying goes "you're only as good as your last game"

roddersm wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:Is everyone forgetting that Ireland have only played one good game in the last 18 months?

Yeah Feckless but the important thing is that the good one was the last one....and as the old saying goes "you're only as good as your last game"

Ahahahaha like a "quit while youre ahead" kind of thing!!

I like Lomu and I think he likes it in Ireland as he seems to be here a lot and often says good things about the place. Anyways I reckon Ireland will get to the semis.

Bill what are your thoughts on Irelands chances. Also my local shop in Dublin now stocks Billtong. Would you recommend it?

Leinsterbaby there's a good Saffa butcher that sells borewors on Parnell St-I live in D1 so go there a lot. Bloody fatty stuff but oh so good.

What's the name of it. I am very near Parnell St right now with time to kill.

Not sure but if you walk past Tesco going towards Smithfields it's covered in a blue tarp. Think it's a block further than that.

Jonah also backed himself to make the ABs in 2007. Not taking anything away from the man, just saying perhaps he used up all of his RWC judgement in 1995 scoring those four tries in 15 minutes against England.