Ireland a good bet for RWC 2015

NOW it can be told — Ireland is one of only four countries that can win the World Cup in England in 2015.

Indeed, only four of the 20 teams participating at the 2011 tournament could possibly have carried off the Webb Ellis Cup — New Zealand, Australia, Scotland or Fiji. How come? Because they were the losing quarter-finalists at the 2007 tournament in France.

Remarkably, the last four winners of the RWC were defeated at the quarter-final stage of the previous tournament.