I suspect more than a few envious England Rugby Union fans have been quietly gloating at the seeming demise of their Irish counterparts recently.

Brian O’Driscoll and his men in green thumped the world champions by a record 43-13 margin at Croke Park in February. And nothing would have delighted English supporters more than seeing their Six Nations conquerors beaten by Argentina in both their summer Tests in South America.

The Pumas’ 22-20 and 16-0 victories painted a bleak picture for the Irish, who only last autumn were officially ranked third in the world by the IRB. And with the two countries due to meet in the 2007 World Cup’s ‘group of death’ in France in September, the continuing status of Ireland as the best of the four home nations looks under serious threat.

'I desperately want Ireland to do well in the World Cup - even more in many ways than my own country, Wales. You see, my memories of Irish rugby go back a long way…to some of my happiest moments since I started following the game as a teenager.'


Well, officially it does. However, when we look beneath the superficial success of the Argentinians, we find that not a single member of the Irish team that thrashed England was playing. A large number of the Irish tourists were in fact part of the successful Under-20 squad gaining invaluable international experience.

World-class names like skipper O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Denis Hickie, Paul O'Connell, Ronan O'Gara, Dennis Leamy, Shane Horgan, Simon Easterby and David Wallace were all missing. And coach Eddie O’Sullivan made it clear before the first Test that "this tour is about allowing players to challenge for the World Cup squad. Now that might put pressure on players, but there is no more pressurised an environment then international rugby and the World Cup, so this will be a good test for them."

So I’m sorry to disappoint all you English fans fearing the worst for your own fallen heroes in France (and fear has to be the operative word for a team whose form since that glorious triumph over Australia in 2003 has been abysmal). The reality is that Ireland WILL be a force across the English Channel  - even if they are in the same group as the hosts and their summer conquerors from South America.

Ireland’s final group game at Parc des Princes on September 30 is against the Pumas - but I'll be astounded if Argentina win that one. They may have one of the fiercest packs of forwards in the international game, but behind the scrum they won’t live with O’Driscoll - surely the world’s best centre - plus the best back division in the Six Nations.

I desperately want Ireland to do well in the World Cup - even more in many ways than my own country, Wales. You see, my memories of Irish rugby go back a long way…to some of my happiest moments since I started following the game as a teenager.

In those days, the men in green seemed to be perennial whipping boys. Perpetual wooden spoonists whose attitude both on and off the field was: ‘Never mind the result, let’s enjoy ourselves.’’

The game was of course amateur in those days, but while ‘boot money’ was flying about elsewhere in the Five Nations, as it was then, one simply could not imagine anyone in Ireland being on the take. (The hard stuff or the black stuff, maybe - but green stuff, never).

Despite the emergence of so many great Irish players over the last decade, the nation’s long-term international record still looks pathetic next to their Northern Hemisphere rivals. Just a single Grand Slam in 1948 to hold up alongside England’s 12, nine for France, eight for Wales and Scotland’s three.

Still, at grass-roots level the game is thriving and in the past seven years both Ulster and Munster have won the Heineken Cup (rugby’s equivalent of football’s Champions League). Ireland are also the current Triple Crown holders and would have been Six Nations champions, too, but for a last-gasp try by France in their final game.

As far as the World Cup is concerned, they’ve never been beyond the quarter-final, which they reached in 1987, 1991, 1995 and 2003. Few genuine rugby fans will ever forget that last-eight clash with Australia at Lansdowne Road in 1991, when Philip Matthews and his men were on the verge of toppling the mighty Australians only to lose 19-18 to Michael Lynagh’s injury-time try. Australia, of course, went on to win the trophy - which shows just how close Ireland were to becoming the best in the world.

They’ll start the 2007 tournament rated only fourth or fifth favourites behind New Zealand, South Africa, France and perhaps Australia. They also face a very real possibility that they’ll come up against New Zealand in the quarter-final - and may well have to beat group favourites France to avoid that fate.

But with that torturous Six Nations finale in Paris in April still fresh in their minds, I for one wouldn’t bet against them conquering the hosts. After all, France don’t have anyone quite like Brian O’Driscoll. But then, neither does anyone else.