Sir, – In disputing Gerry Thornley’s view that Irish rugby’s performance exceeds reasonable expectations (“The strength of Irish rugby is a minor miracle given how few play it”, Sport, Analysis, June 21st), Reamonn O’Luan quotes our record in the old Five Nations tournament and a poor showing at World Cups (Letters, June 23rd).
These are valid observations, though the former largely precedes the professional era and the striking aspect about our dismal contribution to World Cup events is that it falls short of what is anticipated, which is based on our prevailing high standards.
Since the sixth nation, Italy, joined the tournament in 2000, it has been a professional sport and has become recognisable as the game we see now. In the history of Six Nations rugby, the top points, try and penalty scorers are Ronan O’Gara, Brian O’Driscoll and Johnny Sexton. In the all-time table of the tournament Ireland are second, behind England and ahead of France. We are one of only five countries to ever hold the world number one ranking. That we did this entering the 2019 World Cup added to the disappointment with our poor return from that tournament. Our results in European cup competitions are well known, and contrast markedly, and indeed understandably, with soccer in which an Irish club even qualifying for a major tournament would be essentially inconceivable.
Given our small pool of players and the enormous diversion of talent to Gaelic sports, these are remarkable results. – Yours, etc,
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BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Kinsale,
Co Cork.