It’s that special time again, a phenomenon that occurs every four years – advertisers trying a bit too hard to paint Ireland as a “rugby country”.

Of course, this craze tends to coincide with the Rugby World Cup where, heretofore, Ireland have often travelled with designs on a strong showing only to fall at the quarter-final stage (or even before it).

This time, the fact that Ireland go to France as the side ranked number one in the world and in good form means that the hopes of success are greater. It follows then, that this obviously means the bar of expectation is set a little bit higher, too.

Given that Ireland have never gotten past the last eight, would a semi-final or final appearance represent a success? Or are the Roy Keane-types only accepting the Webb Ellis Trophy as proof of a good tournament for Andy Farrell’s side?

Myth

In case you were unaware, the name of the trophy emanates from something of a myth. A plaque at Rugby School notes that in 1823 a boy named William Webb Ellis was the first person to pick up a football and run with it, leading to the development of the new sport.

However, that narrative only emerged in the 1870s, after Webb Ellis had died – he ended up in France and cricket was actually his sport of choice. Still, never let the truth get in the way, eh?

It’s something similar with the “rugby country” mention above. A poll of more than a thousand people by Energia – who hold the naming rights to Leinster’s Donnybrook Stadium – revealed that rugby had apparently come out on top in a survey of their favourite sports.

A total of 31 percent said rugby, with 27 percent for soccer, 23 percent for Gaelic football (men’s and women’s) and 19 percent for hurling and camogie.

With regard to Ireland’s performance, 74 percent expect them to go past the quarter-finals, while 44 percent think they will win the competition. A total of 61 percent polled will actually watch the World Cup.

Each year, PSG publishes its index, and GAA typically comes out on top in that, albeit with the figures for hurling and Gaelic football combined.

Deviation

The figures, when compared with Sport Ireland’s Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study last year, show an interesting deviation.

The Sport Ireland poll revealed that the top sports among school-going children in terms of participation are soccer, Gaelic hurling, swimming and then rugby.

Equally, in terms of sports attended as a spectator or supporter, it was a tie between Gaelic and soccer (35 percent each), followed by basketball (25 percent), hurling (24 percent) and rugby (22 percent).

This would indicate that the rugby interest centres around watching on television, either at home or at the pub. Obviously, all Irish people – or most of them, anyway – watching the games will be cheering on the team.

However, it’s a bit like the old joke about bacon and eggs illustrating how the chicken is merely involved but the pig is firmly committed. The bulk of the viewers will be Ireland supporters without rugby union being their favourite sport and that is okay.

Those who cheered on as Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy won gold at the Olympics two years ago were not all rowing nuts and, realistically, nor would you expect them to be.

The Rugby World Cup features 20 countries, 12 fewer than the last running of the soccer version (which is shamefully being expanded to 48 for next time) but it takes three weeks longer to complete as, understandably, greater recovery time is required between games.

It’s there in the background and the games are spread out nicely but even then the first couple, against Romania (this Saturday) and Tonga (16 September) should be pipe-openers.

The weekend won’t be a seismic one for Ireland – we hope, at any rate – but there are a couple of very interesting games.

The meeting of France and New Zealand on Friday night should start things with a bang, while an out-of-sorts England might find themselves facing a stiff test from Argentina on Saturday night.

For Ireland, it’s a case of getting the points on the board before the first real “national moment” against South Africa on 23 September.

Win that and then we might begin to dream. Again!

The decision of the FAI not to offer Vera Pauw a new contract was one which split opinion nationally, and understandably so.

After taking the country to the Women’s World Cup for the first time, many felt that the Dutch native had built up capital but, ultimately, the golden rule of coaching is that if you’ve lost the dressing room, there’s no way back.

Quite how the whole episode has affected the team will be seen when they take on Northern Ireland and then Hungary in the space of four days towards the end of September, under the interim management of Eileen Gleeson.

Pauw’s treatment has been contrasted in some quarters to the continued employment of Stephen Kenny as men’s team manager, despite no clear evidence of an improvement in results. Crucially, Kenny seems to retain the support of the players as well as a large cohort of supporters who feel he has laid a lot of foundations for the future.

However, while the games against France and the Netherlands this weekend are not ones that Ireland are expected to win, neither can they be hand-waved as unwinnable. Selling the future only works for so long and the present can’t be ignored.