By now, the hoodoo is well known. It follows the team around every four years. As a Rugby World Cup comes into view, the whispers start: ‘is this the time that they finally do it?’ The confidence builds during the group stage, fans dare to dream but then the quarter-final arrives and the result is always the same.
Seven Rugby World Cup quarter-finals for Ireland’s men’s team, seven defeats. Throw in a quarter-final play-off defeat in 1999 and their record reads: eight knockout games, eight losses. For a team that has won Six Nations grand slams, secured autumn and summer tour wins over all the southern hemisphere giants and been ranked No 1 in the world, it’s an inexplicable jinx.
