2011 Rugby World Cup was a turning point for Irish Rugby 

TWELVE years ago this week; Ireland all but secured their ticket to the Rugby World Cup quarter final with a 62-12 victory over Russia.

Declan Kidney was behind the laptop in the stands pulling the strings and Ronan O’Gara finished the game as Player of Match.

The fly-half scored six conversions and one penalty before he was replaced by Johnny Sexton in the 67th minute.

The Douglas native wasn’t the only member of the squad from Cork that day. 

The Irish starting XV also included Donncha O’Callaghan and Tony Buckley, and Mike Ross replaced Cian Healy at loosehead prop at the start of the second half.

The full-team that played that day was: Rob Kearney; Fergus McFadden, Keith Earls, Paddy, Wallace, Andrew Trimble; Ronan O'Gara, Isaac Boss, Cian Healy, Sean Cronin, Tony Buckley, Donncha O'Callaghan, Leo Cullen, Donnacha Ryan, Jamie Heaslip, Sean O'Brien.

While there was no progress to the final tour of the tournament, getting to the quarter finals was seen as an important marker for the overall development of the game. 

The country was finally starting to regularly compete and the dominance of Munster and Leinster in the 2000s - something sparked by rugby union turning professional in Ireland - was translating into success at international level.

Ireland had always competed but this was different. 

Almost everyone connected with the sport agreed that the team was turning into a serial competitor, with the Grand Slam success in 2009 the start of it.

O’Gara made that happen with a drop goal against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, and the celebrations capped off a tournament that saw memorable victories over England and France at Croke Park.

2011 was all about turning that generation into world stars. 

They already had their Six Nations Championship medals and most had experienced success, at various levels, with their clubs.

They started the 2011 Rugby World Cup with an unconvincing 22-10 victory over the United States. 

It was the kind of performance that was vindictive of that era; clinical but not flattering. 

It felt like another episode of Ravenhill in 2007 when the full-time whistle went, with the general public quick to remember an O’Gara try that stopped Italy from claiming a famous win during a World Cup warm-up game in Belfast.

Ireland’s next fixture in 2011 was against Australia, a team that had just won the Tri Nations Series by beating New Zealand and South Africa.

Very few pundits gave Ireland a chance, and the team responded by scoring 15 points and limiting the Wallabies to just two penalties that James O’Connor put over the bar.

The scoreboard read 15-6 at the full-time whistle and Ireland celebrated a famous result by moving onto the game with Russia.

One of the biggest things about their performance was the lack of hangover. 

There was no sense of comedown after the high of beating the Wallabies. 

Ireland were clinical and they led 36-0 at the break, with almost every member of the team contributing in some way to that tally.

Isaac Boss, Keith Earls and Andrew Trimble all got the ball over the goal-line during a four minute spell. 

It was ruthless and Kidney seemed to have no interest in slowing down once the game restarted.

Even though the bonus point was wrapped up in the 38th minute, the players were still getting onto the five meter line and looking to score.

O’Gara didn’t receive his Player of the Match award just for putting the ball over the bar and converting tries and penalties. 

He was direct with his box kicking and that pinned Russia inside their own half, while limiting their chances of putting something together.

He also set up McFadden by chipping the ball up and the right winger ran through to score.

The only time O’Gara failed to convert was in the 40th minute, with the tight angle too much for the fly-half.

It didn’t make much of a difference when the full-time whistle went. Ireland won 62-12 and they were three points clear at the top of the pool with one fixture left.

Their final game was against Italy, a team that Kidney knew far too well over the Six Nations. 

The familiarity meant nothing that day as Ireland won 36-6 and topped their pool, while setting up a quarter final tie with Wales.

That’s where the journey ended. Warren Gatland got the better of Kidney and Ireland were out, the semi-finals a step too far.

It was a hard defeat to take over how the pool played out, and the recent history between Ireland and Wales. 

The passage of time has been kind in its assessment of the 2011 World Cup, with the results now seen as the turning point for Ireland on the international stage.

It’s a very hard competition to get right given its structure and cycle. 

Kidney and his coaching team were finally after figuring out a formula that worked and they laid the ground work that Joe Schmidt strengthened in 2015 and 2019 and Andy Farrell is now seeing the benefits of.