Rugby World Cup - Ireland be strong, you can do it

THIS morning 30 young Irishmen will wake up in Bordeaux. Like so many millions of Irish people before them they will wake in a foreign place, their hearts full of hope, their ambitions fervently shared by everyone they left behind at home.

Like the other 570 rugby players representing 19 countries greeting the day in France, the Irish team are beginning what should be four weeks — hopefully six — of challenging exhilaration and excitement; an opportunity to reach the pinnacle of their careers.

That this pinnacle may be reached in one of the few forums where professional sport and honest human endeavour sustain a nodding acquaintance with each other makes the adventure all the more worthwhile.

We are told that they are the best prepared Irish team of all time and it is also argued that they are the best ever Irish team.

Though there are many veterans formidable who would relish an opportunity to disprove at least one of those claims, they are based on achievement rather than the unreliable romance that has sustained so many Irish sports people over the generations.

If that level of expectation is justified, we have every reason to look forward to the Coupe du Monde with an appetite expecting more than the traditional stick-in- the-craw staple of the Irish rugby supporter — a moral victory.

So, to Strings and Donners, Paulie and Rog, Darc and Bod, The Flan and Shaggy, Wally and The Bull, the Brothers Best and all the other players, to Fast Eddie and all his staff, we offer the simple quote used by Wayne “Buck” Shelford to galvanise the All Blacks on their way to winning their only World Cup win 20 years ago: “Be strong.”

You can do it.