Poetic Justice

POOL A Ireland Prediction: Quarter-final World Ranking: 1 st Overview: The Irish finished the warm-up matches top of the world rankings but still aren’t everyone’s favourites. Preparations for the competition have been far from ideal despite rising to the top. A superb 16-9 win over the All Blacks in November 2018 proved that they could mix it with the best but since then there has been more negatives than positives. Two chastening defeats to England (in both competitive and ‘uncompetitive’ environments) and a comprehensive loss to Wales in the Six Nations suggests they are vulnerable. History is also against them; their past finals form has never seen them go further than the last eight and they’re far from guaranteed such a privilege in Japan. Joe Schmidt’s side face a group from which they should progress. Japan, Russia and Samoa should pose no major risk and its likely their opening game against Scotland will decide who takes the top spot. Their opposition in