Ireland ‘can make the World Cup final’

This interview appears in the current edition of Sport magazine. When we spoke to him, however, his enforced spell on the sidelines felt a natural place to start…

“It’s the only thing I’ve done in my career when I haven’t thought about it”, admits the deadly serious Wilkinson, who nearly smiles when recounting the final whistle. “I don’t know what it is”, he replied.

This video goes behind the scenes on how the technology is actually used on match day.

“It was amusing – the players all wanted it. It was just the officials”. It will make for some great rugby.

I’d have kept Ford in for the Wales game, he can actually play rugby and attacks well, whereas I don’t think Farrell does that as well. He said ‘How much will I spend?’ I said, at that stage, ‘I don’t care!’ “It was just unlucky”.

I’m sure neither side will admit to that but I do find history to be a good teacher. “It was quite sad, I didn’t want that feeling to end”. Coach Warren Gatland, though, will be hoping that the fact they are now underdogs could play in their favor. Being under the guidance of Jim Mallinder and Alex King, I’ve been able to explore how best to impose myself on the game.

And that was it, just one line of copy in the “briefs” buried low down on page nine of the sports section issued on Monday. He’s what I call an honest forward.

Earlier this week, the New York Daily News posed this question in a headline: “Is team US a “sleeping giant” in the Rugby World Cup?” You’re here to get the job done and it’s all player centred which is very important to us. When you’re that comfortable, you can go above and beyond the normal levels, to learn your role and the positions you should take up.

“They’re massive occasions and this one has the added spice of being a World Cup game”.

Harry, honorary president of England Rugby 2015, will be watching the game with his brother William – vice-patron of the Welsh Rugby Union. However, back in 1991, the tournament was only celebrating its second edition. He said “Chum, we haven’t got a trophy”.

“It’ll be good for taking out some of our anger if we do lose”.

Wales’ coaching staff have been actively encouraging North to target more ball-in-hand time during games, and there is no doubt that he could cause havoc on Saturday if opportunities arise. As long as we keep our mindset the same – work hard each week – then we won’t have an issue. We get the results to back that up. “Not only is it everywhere and available to everyone but there is a form of rugby for you whatever your background”.

That’s what you have to do in the World Cup, you can’t look too far ahead. At the last World Cup, the boys bought into the whole ethos: where we’re going, what we wanted to do, keeping everything in-house.

Where are the teams based during the World Cup? The Wallabies began the World Cup with a solid 28-13 win over Fiji, although the failure to get a bonus point awarded for scoring four or more tries will have been a frustration.

So, we work with the accommodation team and the logistics team which looks after the freight and movement of all the teams’ kit from their country into the UK.