Former All Blacks boss Steve Hansen has introduced the newly topped Six Nations Grand Slam champions — Ireland — down a peg by likening them to chokers on the subject of the World Cup.
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Ireland beat one and all within the 2023 Six Nations marketing campaign to be topped Grand Slam and Triple Crown champions for the primary time since 2018.
ALSO READ: Ireland topped Six Nations Grand Slam champs
Their Six Nations dominance coupled with their world No 1 Test rating, has ensured that they’ll head into the 2023 World Cup as odds on favourites to win the Webb Ellis Cup for the primary time ever.
But Hansen shouldn’t be satisfied that they’ll that a lot of a menace to the likes of the All Blacks, Springboks and France. This insecurity within the Irish’s World Cup possibilities stems from Ireland by no means having progressed previous the quarter-finals at rugby’s biggest showpiece.
That’s proper, within the eight World Cups they’ve competed at, Ireland have failed to succeed in the semi-final each single time.
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HANSEN’S HONEST ASSESSMENT OF IRELAND
“Ireland were good throughout the Six Nations,” he stated. “In that closing sport they began off a bit shaky and England rattled them a bit, however as soon as the crimson card got here it was sport over they usually have been ok to reap the benefits of it.
“They’re going properly, ranked No.1 on this planet, they usually’ve had an amazing 12 months to this point.
“Every time a team is number one in the world, you’ve got to consider them to be a World Cup contender – but it’s a tough tournament to win, and they were No.1 going into the last one, weren’t they?”
ALSO READ: Ireland and France transfer away from All Blacks and Springboks
“So, they’ve appeared to wrestle just a little bit at World Cups. If it was the All Blacks, they’d most likely be known as ‘chokers’.
“But Ireland have come a great distance, they imagine in themselves, they usually’re an excellent aspect, in order that they’re undoubtedly a contender. But they’ll have to beat the strain of not having gone previous the quarterfinals earlier than, and there’ll be a whole lot of strain concerned in that.
“If they get through to the semifinals, then they’re in new territory. That’s something they’ll have to deal with that they’ve never dealt with before, and it’s always hard to deal with something you haven’t dealt with before.”
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