Time to envision World Cup glory

MAN for man there isn’t a rugby team in the Northern Hemisphere to touch Ireland; man for man, there isn’t a club rugby team in the Northern Hemisphere to touch Munster.

Despite all the ill-informed criticism to the contrary, there isn’t a better pack than what we have in Munster, in Ireland; there certainly isn’t a better second-row combination than Paul O’Connell/Donncha O’Callaghan; nor would I trade a back-row chosen from any of Denis Leamy, Paul Wallace, Alan Quinlan, Keith Gleeson, Anthony Foley, Neil Best, etc, for any combination chosen from any other club or nation.

There isn’t a better half-back combination than Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara, a better centre partnership than Gordon d’Arcy and Brian O’Driscoll, nor would the following selection of wingers look out of place in any team north of the equator — Shane Horgan, Andrew Trimble, John Kelly, Denis Hickie. Then you have our full-backs, for club and country — Geordan Murphy, Girvan Dempsey, and a man who really, really impresses me, Shaun Payne.