On September 8, I opened The Irish Times to find an A2 Poster with the programme for the Rugby World Cup. The plan showed the twenty teams who must do battle in which ultimate triumph requires survival through the preliminary rounds and victory in quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final climax. We have reached the quarter-finals on seven occasions; this time, we are among the favourites to win the Webb Ellis Trophy.
Competing countries are divided into four pools of five teams. Teams in each pool play one another in a round-robin, with the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage. Our first big challenge is to get out of Pool B, which includes three of the top five teams, Ireland, South Africa and Scotland. We have already played and beaten Romania and Tonga. Only two of the five teams in each pool will advance.
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