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Remarks made by one ex-Ireland player turned pundit have been claimed to have jinxed Ireland in the lead-up to their Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss in Paris.
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New Zealand beat Ireland 28-24 in a humdinger of contest in the French capital, as Ireland’s dreaded quarter-final curse appears to have struck again. And despite Guinness running a ‘Think it, don’t jinx it’ ad campaign with Brian O’Driscoll and Keith Wood, it appears a former teammate may have done just that [if you are of a superstitious bent that is].
One Irish outlet – Sports Joe – have suggested comments made by former Test winger Shane Horgan made on Irish television had indeed jinxed the men in green.
Horgan, an insightful analyst and pundit, told Virgin Media that if Ireland beat the All Blacks then they would go on to win the Rugby World Cup.
“There is so much riding on this game. And if you want to think that there’s even more riding on this game, I think if they win this game, they win the World Cup. That’s how big this game is,” said the former Leinster winger.
“I think this is the last piece of the jigsaw. They have hit all of the milestones. We spoke about it before, we spoke about it last week, they have won the series in New Zealand, and they beat New Zealand in Chicago, so they have got that monkey off their back,” continued Horgan.
“They have beaten all of the Southern Hemisphere teams in the Autumn, they have won a Grand Slam, they have got through the pools. This is what they need to do now – deliver in a quarter-final against a team that has a history like no other.
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“And if we see Ireland do that, well the confidence that will buy, will mean that those doubts that are lingering, and maybe they only live in the back of our minds, maybe they’re gone already and we’ll find out now – but if there are any lingering, they will be gone after that.”
Sadly for Ireland, doubts over the side’s ability to make it beyond a quarter-final will continue to linger for four more years. To paraphrase another classic from the Irish band The Cranberries, they’ll just ‘have to let it linger’.
Pressure of expectation. It’s undone many a prior All Black WC campaign. Elite sports are just as much a mental battle as a skills display.
I think Ireland reverted to type in they went to Sexton too much. They should have pulled him and brought Crowley on. No player wants to be subbed but I dont think Sexton added much with 10-15 left. He only really had 65 mins in the legs.
Crowley fresh would have brought a real running threat.
There is a bit of luck in any sport but didnt go Irelands way.
As for having been there 4 yrs ago, but Ireland’s being ‘a different team now’, well, funnily enough, aren’t the AB’s too?
Is SCW’s ‘foresight’ about a ‘northern powerhouse’ 1/4’s clean sweep a tad wide of the mark? Shades of Stephen Jones? Specsavers?
Ireland was the better team … AB’s we’re fortunate with the bounce of the ball and wayne barnes!
Wonder if Sam Cane quietly conveyed to O’Mahony that ‘Sealed lips gather no feet’?
This is complete nonsense Wayne Barnes beat Ireland as his agenda was that they would not win while he was ref and he used the scrum for his anti Irish bias particularly at the all blacks 5 meter line when the all black tight 5 pop up under ferocious pressure from Ireland's scrum he then awards them a penalty this is an unbelievable decision which he should explain I'm not interested in some peoples excuse that it's his interpretation of the scrum laws he’s not allowed to the laws of the game are the laws of the game he is not entitleed to change the laws of the game while his cynical penalty try at the end to try and take the eye off himself is nauseating, you don't get a conversion attempt so it was job done from him. His anti Irish bais came shining through for all to see. He is everything that is bad with the game I love so much.
I can't begin to say how intense my dislike is for this anti irish individual, friends have said well he's a barrister as if this gives him some sort of special form of integrity, he has none . The game is over and Ireland were excellent the fought hard against 16 men and came up short the all blacks are a brilliant team one which I have followed for 40 years and always a pleasure to watch and the best of luck to them. Nobody is taking about Barnes why Farrell a fellow English man gave him a pass on his integrity. Nauseating
This is nonsense. The pressure in QFs is always huge, because that’s the match that separates some kind of success from abject failure. It’s the same for everyone.
The Irish players are grown men, who’ve been reading nonsense about themselves in the papers for ages, and no amount of talk in the papers can turn their knees into a jelly and “jinx“ them.
Until the last second, they had a realistic chance to win the game. They didn’t look deflated, or crushed (the way Wales have, unfortunately). They were largely in control of their own destiny. Very fine margins decided the game in the end. No pundit jinx had any role in that.
Actually arrogance has consequences. No need to get superstitious.
That old slow ineffective flanker , Peter O’Mahoney jinxed them when he tried to shame Sam Came lat year. Obviously it motivated Cane to dominate the old boy and send a rather flaky Ireland out, once again, before the big boy round. Embarrassing. For Ireland and the old fella O’Mahoney. That might teach him to not be a cock.