Ireland entered the competition with high expectations to win the Rugby World Cup. Even England is backing up Ireland for a tighten control of the tournament in the Northern hemisphere.
New Zealand has been struggling against the Tri Nations winner, England, since 2003 and the hosts of this World Cup have failed in convincing that they could win the Six Nations trophy.
But for the skipper and centre Brian O’ Driscoll it is believed Ireland’s rivals who should be concerned .“Why should we worry about who we will play in the tournament? I think we will be giving plenty of the top sides sleepless nights hoping they will avoid us,” said O’Driscoll.
“Winning the World Cup is every player’s ultimate goal. I’d simply love to be in that position – to do what Martin Johnson did and lift the cup. “But there is a long, long road ahead of the Ireland team before we could get that chance. I’m certainly looking forward to this World Cup. “Another northern hemisphere side will hopefully win it again – I’d love it to be Ireland”.
Coach Eddie O’Sullivan may have been blessed with no question — the nation’s finest generation of players, with some amazing three quarters that complement a robust pack, but O’Driscoll remains the spearhead.
A hamstring problem forced O’Driscoll to miss the heart-breaking 20-17 defeat by France in February and O’Sullivan believes that absence exposed how important he really is. “We missed the best international centre in the world – no-one would argue with the fact Brian O’Driscoll was a loss against France,” the Ireland coach said. “Losing O’Driscoll is hard, there’s no getting away from it. I don’t think any country in the world could replace him if they had to. “I knew that no matter how well we prepared for France, there wouldn’t be that edge to our attack and defense without him. “There’s no point pretending we don’t miss him.”