Ireland aim to live up to ranking

Ireland will be out to justify their lofty standing in world rugby next month as they head for the World Cup in third place in the latest International Rugby Board rankings.

Ireland are behind only England and the All Blacks, and coach Eddie O’Sullivan believes their highest-ever billing is justified.

“They’ve ranked us sixth before but I think we’ve had a pretty exceptional year by any standards,” said O’Sullivan, who was this week handed a new contract taking him beyond the 2007 World Cup.

“We’re played 17, won 15. We’ve probably played more Test games this year than any other country and, because we’ve actually performed well in them, it’s pushed us up the rankings.

“It’s positive feedback for a team that has played well and trained hard all year.

“It’s nice to get a shot in the arm like that before the World Cup but, once the ball is kicked off, it won’t matter to anybody what ranking you are.”

Australia and Argentina, two of the countries who might argue with the rankings, are two of Ireland’s group opponents Down Under who have both fallen victim to the resurgence of O’Sullivan’s team.

Scrum-half Peter Stringer, a virtual ever-present during the renaissance, admitted: “It’s great to be considered third best.

“We’ve only lost two internationals in the last couple of seasons. We’ve put a lot of hard work into it and pulled off some good victories at home, like Australia and Argentina last autumn, so we’ve worked hard for it and we’re certainly delighted to be up there.”

O’Sullivan, who flies out with his 30-man squad on Monday, is confident that tighthead prop John Hayes and wingmen Shane Horgan and John Kelly will be fit for the opening game against Romania in Gosford on October 11.

While Horgan and Kelly have both resumed full training, Hayes – out for the last four months with a calf injury – will continue to be “mothballed” until he arrives at the team’s Sydney base.

“We haven’t pushed him too hard,” admitted O’Sullivan.

“We still have time on our side and I’m confident he’ll be good to go once he gets on the ground in Australia.”

Ireland earlier this week called up Ulster full-back or fly-half Paddy Wallace after centre Jonathan Bell’s ankle injury failed to respond to treatment and that will have come as some relief to David Humphries, Ronan O’Gara and Denis Hickie, who had all been lined up for possible switches to full-back.

The selectors had been criticised for their failure to provide specialist cover for Girvan Dempsey following the loss of first-choice full-back Geordan Murphy and O’Sullivan admits the addition of Wallace gives the tour party more balance.

“We had the option of playing Denis Hickie there or one of the out-halves but Paddy Wallace adds an extra dimension to the squad,” he said.