Ready to take on the world

Five years ago, long before Declan Kidney’s Ireland side upset the Wallabies at the 2011 World Cup, another select bunch of Irish rugby players made the Australian public sit up and take notice.

Having lost by two points to Tonga at Penrith Stadium, the Irish rugby league Wolfhounds took Samoa for 34 points at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney before succumbing to Fiji in the World Cup quarters.

No-one took much notice here of a side stocked with first and second-generation Irish from Britain and Oz but they exited the tournament heralded widely as one of its most inspiring stories.