Rugby:Former All Black Jonah Lomu has singled Ireland out as the side that could break the southern hemisphere's dominance at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand this autumn .

The giant winger, who has scored more World Cup tries (15) than any other player, says Ireland have the experience and the desire to put in a big performance when the tournament rolls around in September.

"If there's a team that you have to be wary about, and not many people are talking about them, it's Ireland," Lomu said while promoting the tournament in the Cook Islands. "Purely because I've watched a lot of their teams. I've watched Leinster play in the Heineken Cup and they were very impressive, especially up front.

Lomu added the likes of Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara and Paul O’Connell were likely to give everything they’ve got in what will be their last World Cup.

"A lot of those players are coming to the end of their career and they'll put everything on the line," he said.

The 36-year-old said Ireland's low profile could work to their advantage with the spotlight on "the usual suspects" such as South Africa, New Zealand and more recently Australia, after the Queensland Reds won the Super 15 title.

"They're going to slide in under the radar because I think everybody's talking about how the (Queensland) Reds have beaten the Crusaders for Australia and France coming without (Sebastien) Chabal," he said. "They're just going to do their job and do what they need to do."

Lomu, who was born in New Zealand but spend much of his childhood in Tonga, said he believed the All Blacks could win on home soil.

"I'm a through and through All Blacks supporter and they'll be my team but I know there's so many teams to watch out for," he said.

At fourth in the world, Ireland are the highest ranked northern hemisphere team. They are grouped with Australia, Italy, Russia and the USA in Pool C.