How come Ireland are rated so highly?

Question

They didn't win the 6 nations..their game is solely reliant on 3 or maybe 4 top class players, all of whom are aging and injury prone..to me they are nothing more than England in green jerseys and no-one is giving England a hope!

Answer 1

My Lord!!  What a relief to find out that I'm not the only one who thinks that.  O'Gara tackles like a school boy, and just because their locks are among the best in the 6N, doesn't make them among the best in the world.

Answer 2

You don't have to win the 6 Nations to get a good ranking. It's all explained in the IRB web site.

Irish are a good unit and a dangerous one. They might lose out on the ranking after, as you said, all the aging superstars retire. If yes, you're correct; if not try accepting Ireland as a competent team.

Answer 3

lol So where would you rate them?  Who, ranked lower than them, deserves to be ranked above them?  The only team that is ranked lower than them that could complain is Argentina, and they have only come on in the last 18 months so they need a notch up a couple more wins against top teams to get into the top 5... or do you think England and Wales should be ranked in 5th??? BAHAHAHAHAH     The ranking system is explained on the IRB site.

Answer 4

Read your first line and thought you were talking about Australia !!I guess the only way for Ireland is up and they clearly got no reputation to lose

Answer 5

Ireland has some great players and a good team sure, but they rely too heavily on O'Driscoll to commend the team and O' Gara to kick drop goals and conversions, have little strength in depth and can't win many matches consistently and tend to lose against Southern Hemisphere opposition in the World Cup. They are the England team of Rugby; look promising, but can't quite cut the mustard. They haven't yet got past the Quarter Finals, and are in the group of death.

England won't retain, but I am hoping they remain competitive throughout, and anything else is a bonus for me.