Rugby World Cup: Ireland won't want repeat result of Croke Park's last rugby match

Rugby came to Croke Park in 2007 and left three years later.

First game was Ireland against France in the Six-Nations, the last, the host country taking on Scotland in the same competition.

There was a huge interest in the opener across all codes.

For instance, Louth senior footballers played Armagh in a National League match at Crossmaglen on the same day, and to avoid a clash with the rugby, the starting-time was brought forward.

Lots happened that wouldn’t have had the infamous Rule 27 still been in place.

Fourteen matches formed the Croker campaign, which was bookended by defeats.

A late try gave France victory in the opener, and as the curtain came down, The Aviva almost ready to invite followers back to Lansdowne, Scotland won by 23 to 20, thus depriving Ireland of a Triple Crown.

But over the three years, there were more Irish wins than defeats, nine in all to go with four losses and a draw.

Tommy Bowe was on the wing for the tip-off in the Scotland game and Rob Kearney came in as a replacement at 26 minutes.

Tomás O‘Leary’s father was a Cork All-Ireland hurler.

Seánie Neither Bowe nor Kearney would have played Gaelic football at the GAA headquarters, but were quite familiar with the game.

Both played inter-county minor, Bowe with Monaghan, Kearney with Louth.

The latter also played at club level, lining out a few times with Cooley Kickhams after he’d called a halt to his illustrious rugby campaign.

He was included in the panel when Kickhams went down to St Fechin’s in the 2019 intermediate championship final.

Kearney is now in punditry along with a number of his former colleagues, taking stock as Ireland make a bid for World Cup glory.

The next Ireland game he’ll be commenting on is coming up this weekend, Scotland sitting in the other corner.

The opinion expressed here last week following the hard-earned win over South Africa in round three of the competition – after the defeats of Romania and Tonga – was that Ireland’s place in the quarter-finals was assured.

Not so. There’s still a chance Scotland can make it from Pool B along with South Africa, but for that to happen, Ireland will not only have to lose, but also fail to win a bonus point.

You’d imagine that will only happen if Farrell’s side have a complete loss of form, or the wonderfully named Bundi Aki, Mack Hansen, Johnny Sexton, or the like, cannot find a way over the Scottish line.

Sexton is the only survivor of the 2010 team still playing at the highest level. The team captain and the country’s top scorer does all the inspiring on the field, while off it, Andy Farrell, big ‘Paulie’ – the name given to Paul O’Connell in his playing days –

Mike Gatt and the others, have got things right, not only in this campaign so far, but also most others at a continental level, especially the most recent.

Sexton will retire after the World Cup, when his haul of caps should come to around the 120. There would be no better way for him to end his career than to lift the most prized trophy in the game, or even take his country to the semi-finals for the first time since the competition was first played in 1987.

The Scotland game is on Saturday night, tip-off at 8 o’clock. As happened for the South Africa match, Ireland is likely to win the battle of stands, the team’s supporters outnumbering their Celtic cousins.

And speaking of attendances, the world record for a club match was set at Croke Park when Munster played Leinster in the 2009 Heineken Cup final. Ticket sales were 82,208, which compares with the biggest ever, 82,957, for a World Cup match, Australia against England in Sydney, 2003.