Former Leinster and Connacht player Andy Dunne was on Wednesday’s OTB AM and wasn’t confident about an Ireland appearance in the RWC semi-finals.
Ireland put in a much-improved performance against Wales in their last warm-up game and went top of the world rankings as a result.
However, Dunne wasn’t convinced that Joe Schmidt’s side are likely to make it past the quarter-finals for the first time.
“About two [out of ten]. If you had asked me this question last November I would have said eight out of ten. It was a hell of a swing in performance.
“It’s one of the great sporting mysteries to me. How we went from the New Zealand game to two or three months later with the same group of people and it really looked like a different group,” Dunne commented.
While the former fly-half reckons Ireland should beat Scotland, he felt that the bookies are being too generous to Schmidt’s team.
“My toes are curled up a little bit when I hear the 3/1 for the Scotland game. We’ve certainly beaten them successively on many occasions now.
“But every once in a while, and I’m damaged by history, they’ve picked us off every once in a while in an important Six Nations game.
"We’re a better team on our day. But they are the same side that scored 38 points unanswered against England in Twickenham. When they’re hot, they’re on fire,” Dunne said.
Ireland have a tough start to the tournament, playing Scotland first before coming up against hosts Japan six days later.
Schmidt may have wanted an easier run-in for his side but Dunne believes that a strong start to the tournament could greatly increase Ireland’s chances of going far.
“I think there’s a fickle nature to our performance at the moment. If we get through Scotland and we get through Japan, as the tournament goes on, I think we’ll be an increasing threat.
"If we manage to get through, which I hope we do, I actually think we’ll be a much harder prospect come quarter-final. Maybe I’ll revise my two out of ten to four out of ten,” Dunne said.
Ireland come up against Scotland on Sunday, September 22nd in Yokohama at 8.45am Irish time as they begin their pursuit of World Cup glory.
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