Ireland are the best in the rugby?

Answer 1

No, France are, in the 6 Nations.

Answer 2

The All Blacks are the best team in the world at rugby and they will win the next world cup easily.

Answer 3

Not by a long shot!

I suggest you look at New Zealand to start with, head of the IRB ratings and playing as always a huge game every test.
Australia is reeling but are still good.
France have beaten Ireland already this year
And then there is the problem with the Springboks as well.

So Ireland being the best ... No

Answer 4

I agree and therefore reiterate the above statements.

Ireland are a founder member nation of the IRB (the International Rugby Board) and by virtue of their membership they acknowledge the international governing body's ranking of international rugby teams. As you can see from the IRB's extremely complex points system http://www.irb.com/EN/World+Rankings/ - the result of statistical analysis and a strong indicator of genuine world rankings - Ireland are currently not the 1st, not 2nd, not 3rd, not 4th, but the 5th best rugby team in the World. New Zealand, France, Australia and South Africa, through more consistent results, are proven to be better rugby teams than Ireland on current form.

If you are referring to the Six Nations rugby tournament which has not yet finished then a glance at the table - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/4779371.stm - is enough to realize and come to terms with the fact that Ireland aren't even the best team in Europe. They share the same number of tournament points as England and sit in second place behind France who beat them at Croke Park thus emphasizing the fact that the IRB table doesn't lie. France are better than Ireland. Not many serious rugby supporters would contend that the selection, condition and performance of the two Southern Hemisphere teams Ireland beat in the Autumn was of a sufficient level to give any real credence to the results, albeit outstanding results, Ireland achieved against them. In short, it was South Africa's development team and Australia were playing with hangovers.

Incidentally (Fox was writing his answer while I was writing mine) I agree that Ireland put in a truly world class performance against England and they totally outplayed the former world champions. If capable of playing at that rythmn week in, week out, the world rankings would probably be very different but unfortunately for Ireland they tend to save all their hate for England and miss out on a Grand Slam by celebrating before the final whistle against teams like France thus throwing away the big titles. They have five World Class players in O'Driscoll, O'Gara, O'Connell, Wallace and Easterby whereas players like Hickie, Dempsey, O'Calaghan and their entire front row, whilst very good players, are not quite up to the standards set by their opposite numbers in the nations that lead the IRB World Rankings.

The New Zealand All Blacks are by far the best rugby team at the moment and I think that France, Australia and South Africa are the only three teams with a genuine chance of upsetting them at the World Cup. I think Ireland will struggle to get out of the group stages.

Answer 5

with o'driscoll playing ireland are the best in the northern hemisphere, without him they miss the control.
Best in the world - no.
If it was possible for the world cup the final between the 2 best sides would be new zealand v new zealand A

Answer 6

Not in the um, other form of rugby (and the better one, in my opinion!). They sure aren't the best in rugby league.

Answer 7

Ireland are good but not that good. That might be bad when I say that about my own country but I still support them. They were brillant against England in Croke Park and will never get a result like that again.

And Diarmid I'm female!

Answer 8

One thing is for sure: they're very good, even better and better....They seem to benefit from the European cup since they play y in province -somehow an antechamber of the national team-....but still not the best

Answer 9

Is that a question, or an ill-informed statement?

The best International Rugby team are without question the Newzealand All Blacks.
The best team in the 6 Nations are France

Answer 10

YEs they are good and on a certain day ...they will beat any body in the world.
We will have this answer only later this year when the world cup kicks off.
At this stage the Alll blacks are on top and then South Africa,,,

Answer 11

yes for me they're the best(even if I'm french), they play a beautiful and clever rugby!