Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

There are more opportunities to slip up that's why the draw is appalling . More bigger hurdles the more chance of falling over one....rwcs are fickle beasts.

It’s hardly worth their while going to France

Is Loughnane just temperory injury cover or will he be in the mix for the 33 selected to travel to France

Who do you believe would win if Ireland and NZ meet in QF?

Which team would you favour ,the number 1 team Ireland or New Zealand..

any other world cup NZ probably

given where both teams have been over the last year or so - if it were tomorrow id pick ireland

given how much nz look to be improving at the moment it might be an even call by the time this likely comes around

it cant be underestimated how much confidence winning a series in NZ gives a team. whats more, coming back from losing the first test to then win the series is about as hard an achievement as possible apart from a whitewash.

indeed, forgot it was early in that game

yeah i cant remember specifically what happened but id presume he was injured if he went that early, when he wasnt involved against italy either id say it was more down to injury rather than giving the other OHs time

as a fan of the player, i want him playing as hes still the best option. as a fan of the man, i think he should have retired years ago. the injuries and more importantly, head knocks (not to sound like george hook but he definitely has had way too many) are surely going to have a negative effect at some stage, much as i hope im wrong

in any future world cup, Ireland will be at best at 50/50 to beat an All Blacks side or France playing at home. If they fail to do this year, so be it. It is not the mental frailties of World Cup time. Ireland could play above themselves and still see themselves kicked out of the group/lose at QF.

Also the idea that winning a QF is some form of achievement that unburdened future generations of Irish world cups is also nonsense. It would be nice for them to show what they can do.

Are there many French fans worried about France's inability to win a World Cup in 36 years?

Getting past a QF would absolutely make it easier for future teams to go well in world cups without the mental baggage we bring with us. We couldn't buy a win against NZ but when we finally did we've had an excellent record against them since. Belief is everything. Irish players go in to every European cup believing they can win it, Welsh players don't. That flips in world cups, even bang average Welsh teams know they can make the Semi Final. "Been there, done that" as they say.

You're right that we could play well and still go out due to the draw but our record tells us we crash out without firing a shot. We've been the easiest quarter final opponents in the tournament's history. Only once have we made a game of a quarter final, when we were massive underdogs 'giving it a lash' - at home. Scotland came closer to a semi final 8 years ago than we have in over 30 years.

We keep hearing about our record over Scotland to downplay fears we might not make it out of the pool but we're told our own horrible record in this tournament doesn't matter. If we're going to talk about Scotland's 1 win in 12 or whatever it is against us then it's fair to mention our record of zero knockout wins ever.

Many of us are fed up seeing the likes of Wales and Argentina in Semi Finals while we're packing our bags with a thousand excuses. They need to perform at this world cup and live up to expectations for once, no crying about the draw or injuries and hard luck stories. It's not accepted elsewhere so it shouldn't be accepted in the home of world's #1 side.

I think you are setting them up to fail. Being number 1 in the world is borderline irrelevant, given that the draw for the World Cup was made three years ago. If Ireland was in the other half of the draw and failed to deal with that opposition, then you could talk about mental baggage. But claiming that if Ireland fail to beat South Africa, New Zealand and France (at home) is down to mental baggage is nonsense. Even if they do everything right they could very easily get beaten by a better team on the day. Believing that Ireland only have to get their head right and its in the bag is an immature way of looking at this. They have no divine right to beat these teams. If they play to their potential, they might.

If we can get through Scotland, SA, NZ or Fra, who knows who would be left standing.