Sick as an Irish parrot

It was a monumental effort by Ireland against the All Blacks at the weekend - heartbreaking stuff for the Irish players – and the likes of BOD and POC especially. Chances to beat New Zealand don’t come around too often for anyone, let alone the Irish. 

Ireland's performance showed again that the so-called chasm between the North and South (hemispheres, not Ireland) isn’t as gaping as many think, especially when the matches are played in Europe. Rugby World Cup 2015 will be played in the autumn in the northern hemisphere and Ireland, England, France and Wales have all, to a greater or lesser extent, made a statement of intent this November. If a southern hemisphere team is to win the World Cup they’ll be made to work bloody hard for it. 

That said, what  other team in the world could have pulled themselves back from the brink the way this excellent New Zealand team did?