Hypothetical Question

Gamb!t

I know the Rugby World Cup has been done and dusted but how far would the Irish Grand slam winning team of 2009 have gotten in this years Rugby World Cup ?
Would we have beaten the Welsh & French teams at this years tournament at the 1/4 and semi finals or was it a case that the Irish team of 2009 was not that great after all and we may not have won the Grand slam as these teams(France,Wales) were going through transition phase ?

[Jackass]

I think the current Irish team is better than the GS team of 09, and certainly has more depth, but our rate of improvement has not been as great as that of the other teams.

I don't think the 09 team would have done as well as the current team. Every season teams get better and you have to always be improving.

totallegend

The personnel is largely the same but the changes have been for the better, especially in the front row. The one advantage the 2009 team had was BOD playing possibly the best rugby ever by anyone in a green shirt and maybe he could have dug out a win against Wales but overall, no, the 2011 team is superior.

Podge_irl

Highly doubt the GS team would have beaten Australia. They played some absolutely god awful rugby in that competition.

GerM

Rugby has changed significantly since the 2009 6N. The ELV rules have been discarded and the scrum has seen a strong focus from officials. I don't think the players on the 2009 team are any worse but the way the game is played has changed so that it wouldn't suit them the way it did in 2009.

I think they would have reached the QF but would have lost to Australia in the pools.

padser

Most likely would have gone out in QF

Next mostly likely they would have gone out in the pool stages.

Such is our lot

CatFromHue

The personnel differences would be Earls for Luke Fitz, Murray for TOL, Healy, Best, and Ross for Horan, Flannery, and Hayes, and SOB for Wallace.

I think out team now is marginally stronger.