JUST FOR A minute, let yourself get a bit giddy and imagine what it would be like if Ireland reach a first-ever Rugby World Cup semi-final. It’s only one game away.
The build-up to that one would be crazy.
What about a final? Can you just imagine if Ireland are up against France or South Africa in the World Cup final in Paris? It would be truly epic for an island that adores its sport.
The interest levels would be off the charts. We’ve already seen more than 60,000 Irish fans turning up in Paris just for a pool game, so who knows what might happen for a semi-final or final. Whether enough people would be able to muster the funds and bunk off other commitments to get to Paris is another question.
Of course, the dream could all come crashing down this weekend as Andy Farrell’s side get set to face New Zealand in the World Cup quarter-finals. Win and they’re already history-makers, even if their real goal is the Webb Ellis Cup.
Lose and you can only imagine that the knives will be out, even if it’s a defeat in which Ireland play well or are unlucky against another good team. Some folk will take glee in another Irish exit at this stage of the competition, although probably fewer than might have been the case in the past.
It feels like this team are truly on the precipice of breaking completely new ground for rugby in Ireland. Rugby has had a big rise in popularity on the back of the achievements of the Irish provinces, as well as the national team under Joe Schmidt and now Farrell.
This World Cup, though, has seen things go up a notch. There seems to be a sense among Irish people that this really is their team. We’ve seen that in the genuinely astonishing support in France, which is the talk of the World Cup. Everyone on the ground here is chatting about the Zombie and the sheer number of Irish fans who have been making the trips. Some in French rugby circles even fear that if les Bleus do face Ireland in the World Cup final, it won’t be the overwhelmingly great home advantage they had first imagined.
But we’ve also seen the grá for Farrell’s team among those back home who haven’t been fortunate enough to get over to France.
A peak TV audience of 1.4 million people watched Ireland’s win over South Africa, according to RTÉ, while there was a peak of 1.3 million for the victory over Scotland on Saturday.
These are truly remarkable figures. RTÉ revealed that the South Africa game was their largest audience of the year. Not just for rugby, not just for sport, but for any programme.
In 2022, the most-watched programme in Ireland across all broadcasters was the Late Late Toy Show with 1.5 million viewers. Sport is always dominant on this list but no sporting event last year drew more than 875,000. The biggest rugby audience was 818,000 for Ireland’s clash with France in the Six Nations.
That puts these World Cup numbers into perspective and one has to imagine that this weekend’s quarter-final against New Zealand, which will be shown live on Virgin Media, will hit a new peak.
We must also take into account that these figures of 1.4 and 1.3 million don’t include streams of the games or factor in the presumably large number of people who watched in big crowds at the pub, rugby club, or with their friends. Nor do these figures include Irish people who may have watched the games on ITV or elsewhere.
In a country with a population of just over 5 million, it is seismic stuff.
While it’s hard to accurately assess from over in France, the impression is that rugby is the talk of Ireland like never before. We’ve heard reports of Farrell’s side being chatted about in GAA clubs and we’ve had more messages about the sport than at any stage in the past decade.
So progress has clearly already been made and people care about this team.
Their success has made them sexy, of course, but people are buying into the spirit that Farrell leads. He’s a likeable figure and as we have previously written, it possibly helps that he comes from a working-class background.
Farrell has a strong Wigan accent but his family has Irish roots and, in many ways, he embodies characteristics that Irish people are proud of. He’s humble, hard-working, able to have the craic, and proud to be representing this island – all four corners of it.
Yes, it’s still a team completely dominated by the products of private schools but Farrell has been the ideal figurehead for this Irish team at this stage of its journey. His squad is littered with players who have become big names in the Irish public consciousness.
And despite all the progress so far, it’s hard not to think of how much more could be made with a big result this weekend.
If Ireland can achieve their goal of winning a World Cup in the coming weeks, it would push rugby to an altogether new level.
