Claims ex-Ireland player jinxed team with pre-match comments

Remarks made by one ex-Ireland player turned pundit have been claimed to have jinxed Ireland in the lead-up to their Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss in Paris.

New Zealand beat Ireland 28-24 in a humdinger of contest in the French capital, as Ireland's dreaded quarter-final curse appears to have struck again. And despite Guinness running a 'Think it, don't jinx it' ad campaign with Brian O'Driscoll and Keith Wood, it appears a former teammate may have done just that [if you are of a superstitious bent that is].

One Irish outlet - Sports Joe - have suggested comments made by former Test winger Shane Horgan made on Irish television had indeed jinxed the men in green.

Horgan, an insightful analyst and pundit, told Virgin Media that if Ireland beat the All Blacks then they would go on to win the Rugby World Cup.

"There is so much riding on this game. And if you want to think that there's even more riding on this game, I think if they win this game, they win the World Cup. That's how big this game is," said the former Leinster winger.

"I think this is the last piece of the jigsaw. They have hit all of the milestones. We spoke about it before, we spoke about it last week, they have won the series in New Zealand, and they beat New Zealand in Chicago, so they have got that monkey off their back," continued Horgan.

"They have beaten all of the Southern Hemisphere teams in the Autumn, they have won a Grand Slam, they have got through the pools. This is what they need to do now - deliver in a quarter-final against a team that has a history like no other.

"And if we see Ireland do that, well the confidence that will buy, will mean that those doubts that are lingering, and maybe they only live in the back of our minds, maybe they're gone already and we'll find out now - but if there are any lingering, they will be gone after that."

Sadly for Ireland, doubts over the side's ability to make it beyond a quarter-final will continue to linger for four more years. To paraphrase another classic from the Irish band The Cranberries, they'll just 'have to let it linger'.