Rugby World Cup 2027: Ireland must improve ‘all areas’ before tournament in Australia

Ireland captain Caelan Doris admits his side’s journey to the 2027 Rugby World Cup must feature improvements “across all areas” after a mixed autumn campaign.

In November, Ireland suffered dispiriting losses to southern hemisphere giants New Zealand and South Africa either side of wins over Japan and Australia as they slipped to fourth in the world rankings.

Wednesday’s World Cup draw placed Ireland in Pool D alongside Scotland, Uruguay and Portugal for the expanded 24-team tournament in Australia.

“If you look at the four games [in November], I don’t think there was one area that was consistently amazing, maybe the breakdown was pretty good throughout,” said Doris.

“There is growth across all areas, which is exciting. A lot of that is individuals. There is belief in our plans and in what we can do.

“I’m looking at myself. I had a good chat with Paulie [O’Connell] earlier in the week, some of the things to work on personally, some of the penalties I gave away aren’t the standard to what we hold ourselves to. There’s tackle techniques and so many others areas from an individual perspective.

“But I believe we have a group with the hunger and the mindset to improve.”

Ireland have exited the World Cup at the quarter-final stage on eight occasions, most recently to New Zealand in France two years ago.

But Doris insists talk of Ireland’s last-eight hoodoo is “largely outside noise” and does not weigh heavily on the players’ minds.

“It’s obviously different this time anyway,” added the Leinster back row.

“There’s an extra knockout game in the round of 16 so if anything that will be favourable in that there’s an opportunity to win a knockout game, but I don’t think it’s a massive factor.”