England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winner, Jason Robinson, believes that Ireland and Andy Farrell are in a great position to win the Rugby World Cup in France.
Andy Farrell's Ireland side heads into the tournament ranked number one in the world and has recently beaten every side they have faced. This includes former World Cup winners South Africa, New Zealand, England, and many others.
Despite being lauded for their rugby prowess and ability, Ireland has never gotten past the quarter-final stage of the tournament.
Defeats in 2019, 2015, and 2011 still linger in the memory of fans and former players. In 2019, hosts Japan pulled off one of the most significant upsets in Rugby World Cup history by defeating the second-ranked Ireland 19-12 in Shizuoka.
Farrell, who has instilled a different mentality in the 2023 version of the Ireland team, is now in a very different place.
Robinson, widely regarded as one of the greatest rugby union and rugby league players of his generation, believes that Ireland can end their quarter-final hoodoo under Farrell this year.
The former England winger thinks that Ireland's historic first win away in New Zealand in 2021 shows this.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell speaks to his players before the previous International Rugby Friendly match between Ireland and Japan at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Harry Murphy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)Speaking on the In The Zone podcast, Robinson said "Ireland has a poor record in World Cups, and this is potentially going to be the biggest one in their history, and they deserve to do well," he said. "They are playing some great rugby.
"Watching them go to New Zealand in a three-Test series, go down in the first one and get absolutely battered, to turn it around to win the second and third, I can't tell you how high my respect for that is because I know how hard it is to go out to New Zealand and scrape a result, never mind do it back-to-back"
"Ireland is in a great place at the moment, and there's an expectation on them. It's alright winning Six Nations and doing that; the World Cup is another level of pressure, and only time will tell if they can handle that," he added.
Farrell last week said that 'there was no point turning up if we don’t believe we can win the World Cup,' and Robinson, who played with Farrell at Wigan, knows all too well of how influential Farrell will be in France.
"It's amazing to see what has happened to Irish rugby over the last few years. It's very interesting to me having played with Andy [Farrell] in the 90s at Wigan because I know the type of character he is. If you're under a coach that has been there and done it and has dealt with the pressures, there's so much respect there to start with.
"The attention to detail and being the best you can be, I can't think of a better person to be in there and get that out of the team, and it's shown in the way that they perform. Ireland is now the number one team in the world. I think him being there has added to Ireland."
Ireland's game against Romania starts at 2.30pm
