John Mitchell - All Blacks former captain and coach says Ireland are realistic World Cup winners.

First topic message reminder :

This sort of talk was really inevitable.  10 wins in a row including against South Africa, Australia, England and France.

What I like about this Ireland team and Joe Schmidt, is that the only thing anyone inside the camp will be thinking about is the Wales game up next in the 6N.  Which Paul O'Connell has identified as Ireland's toughest game, as unlike the game against England, it is away from home.

Interested to gauge the opinion of v2ers on this, are Ireland contenders for the whole shabang, and if not are any of the 6N?

http://www.espn.co.uk/six-nations-2015/rugby/story/258325.html

League would be nice for a change.

Six!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let that lad go, you're hurting him too much!!!!!!!!!! That's better. You see, it's his turn to have the ball.

At least Burgess would be of some use to the world again

GunsGerms wrote:

ebop wrote:If Ireland win the RWC at least they will do so playing drab rugby

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11412365

"I've actually got big concerns about the game at the moment, because there are not enough tries being scored, which is turning the fans away," said Hansen, a former Wales coach who has set the standards with the All Blacks.

This is the usual nonsense you hear from down south every few years.

How many tries did NZ score in the 2011 RWC final Steve?

Understandable that you would make a point by selecting one match. ABs scored 39 others getting there guns, Ireland 16. One of those two didn't get there.

As you well know the World cup is as much about making the final as much as winning it.

But understandable that you might blend with winning with excitement. Its kinda new for Ireland. Hansen can talk about winning and exciting rugby as two different entities, probably a concept not familiar to you yet...give it time, you'll get it one day...

I dunno, its pretty boring watching the All Blacks win every game

GunsGerms wrote:

ebop wrote:If Ireland win the RWC at least they will do so playing drab rugby

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11412365

"I've actually got big concerns about the game at the moment, because there are not enough tries being scored, which is turning the fans away," said Hansen, a former Wales coach who has set the standards with the All Blacks.

This is the usual nonsense you hear from down south every few years.How many tries did NZ score in the 2011 RWC final Steve?

 Then again Ive heard nonsense from others a lot more regularly than that.