France, well they are just so French, you don't know what to expect. That leaves the Irish. They are the defending Six Nations champions and have just about swept all before them in the past two years. They did lose to the All Blacks, however, on a dubious re-kick at conversion but that's another article. What they have done is start the process of self belief. They always had the basis of a good team but never really found that cohesion to win consistently. Names like Brian O'Driscoll, Keith Woods and Ronan O'Gara were the stars, throw in a few other players and a day at the office became a little difficult.

There was a time when the Wallabies struggled in Europe; when the Aussies were essentially the whipping boys on end-of-season trips and that playing in the northern hemisphere was a lesson in how you played the game of rugby ... properly. That stigma and perception changed with the class of '84. The Wallabies found belief with that Grand Slam win. A groundbreaking World Cup win seven years later was followed up in 1999 and, all of a sudden, travelling north didn't hold as much fear. When I first played for the Wallabies against the northern hemisphere teams I was full of confidence. I knew we would go out there and win. Not because we assumed that we were better than the opposition but, from a football perspective, the style of rugby we were playing was quicker, faster and, I thought at the time, more skilful.

There was the occasional loss and that was reported as an aberration. It usually involved terrible conditions that weren't conducive to how we played ... or at least that was the excuse. We knew that sustained pressure would eventually see cracks in the opposition and even though there was resistance we would always find a way to manoeuvre our way around the opposition. To put it simply; we went away on the end-of-season trip to play Test match rugby against the home nations, knew it was going to be tough, but more often than not victory would be achieved. Still, we weren't going to miss out on a good time. Oh, how things have changed. Ireland equalled their record of 10 straight wins and beat England for the first time since 2011. They went through undefeated in the spring, dishing up the Wallabies and the Springboks and now hold the mantle of world No.3.

The Ireland that we see today is a fast, destructive, physical machine that combines both strength and finesse. They have replaced the O'Driscolls, Woods and O'Garas with Jonathan Sexton, Paul O'Connell and Tommy Bowe. What I like about the make-up of this outfit is that they are planning their way around the park and attack in a focused style. I remember a team that would kick the leather off the ball but this new crew seizes opportunities. If there is a chance to go, they are off. Sexton has been instrumental in the vision he has shown at five-eighth and the others have responded. So are they in the reckoning for this year's World Cup? Yes indeed. There was a stage there when people were talking about the Irish being the dark horses for the tournament, that perception has changed and no longer can the world No.3 be called an smokey; they are a genuine threat.

You don't have to be the best team in the world to win a World Cup, but what you do have to do is to be playing well and sometimes, a little luck comes in handy.