The Irish, under the direction of Joe Schmidt, will be sending their best squad ever to the Rugby World Cup and with the number one ranking. The strength of this team is so good that there is a very realistic chance of them winning their first World Cup. The Irish have a reasonably easy group as Scotland stands as their strongest competition, but to even get to the semi-finals, they will have likely face either South Africa or New Zealand. Despite some controversial selections made by Schmidt including leaving out such stand outs like Kieran Marmion and Devin Toner, this Irish squad should be a force to be reckoned with.
The first match for their campaign will be against Scotland and that is the strongest competition to winner of Pool A. The Irish's next game will be against Japan and that could be a competitive one as the Japanese have been improving on the international rugby stage and can compete well with other Tier One nations, plus they will have the advantage of the crowd and the pitch. Their third match will be against Russia and despite Russia's physicality, the Irish should win that. And the final match for them will be against Samoa who have been struggling for a while and it should be another easy match for the Irish.
Prediction: World Cup champions. Yes, some are not that confident that the Irish will actually do it as they feel like the team peaked too early last year, but I am confident as Schmidt is an excellent coach and seems to know how to adjust the gameplan from match to match. The Irish have the talent to win it all and being ranked number one is nothing to balk at.
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