MELBOURNE, 8 November 2003 — Ireland will be extra vigilant early in tomorrow’s World Cup quarterfinal match against a France team quickly becoming a hot tip to win the tournament.
Ireland were desperately unlucky to lose by just a point to defending champions Australia in their final pool match, a defeat which condemned them to a quarterfinal against a team who have done nothing wrong so far.
Former New Zealand lock Colin Meads, acknowledged as the greatest All Black of them all, said on Friday he believed France would be more dangerous opponents than England. Meads, who had initially backed England to win the Cup, told a rugby club luncheon: “We know what England will do but we don’t know about France.”
Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan said Sunday’s match was probably the most important in his country’s history.
“If we get a bad start and get two scores down against the French, we all know their shoulders will go back, their heads will go up and they’ll start throwing double reverse passes behind their back,” he said yesterday.
