24 years in 140 characters: World Cup wash-outs, best performance being a glorious last-eight defeat by Australia in 91. Tend to meet the Wallabies a lot – and lose.

World Cup record:

1987: Quarter-finals

1991: Quarter-finals

1995: Quarter-finals

1999: Quarter-final play-offs

2003: Quarter-finals

2007: Pool Stages

Record in 2011: P9 W3 L6

Coach: Declan Kidney

Captain: Brian O'Driscoll

How are they likely to get on? The four warm-up matches have cooled Irish hopes for a better World Cup than the last two. There has been little direction and even less inspiration, other than from the Munster lock and Lions captain Paul O'Connell running himself into the ground.

Key player: Brian O'Driscoll has to be fit and firing if Ireland are to regain the intensity of performance that was lacking during the warm-up matches.

Commentator's kit: Second row Donncha O'Callaghan, a notorious joker, is famous for luring a family of ducks into a Munster team meeting. He swears, however, that it was his fellow lock O'Connell who pulled Alastair Campbell's trousers down on the 2005 Lions tour.

Squad

Tony Buckley, prop, age 30, caps 23

Tom Court, prop, age 30, caps 23

Cian Healy, prop, age 23, caps 20

Mike Ross, prop age 31, caps 9

Rory Best, hooker, age 29, caps 49

Sean Cronin, hooker, age 25, caps 13

Jerry Flannery, hooker, age 32, caps 39

Leo Cullen, second-round, age 33, caps 31

Donncha O'Callaghan, second-row, age 32, caps 74

Paul O'Connell, second-row, age 31, caps 77

Donnacha Ryan, second-row, age 27, caps 9

Stephen Ferris, flanker, age 26, caps 25

Shane Jennings, flanker, age 30, caps 10

Sean O'Brien, flanker, age 24, caps 11

Jamie Heaslip, No8, age 27, caps 37

Denis Leamy, No8, age 29, caps 52

Isaac Boss, scrum-half, age 31, caps 14

Conor Murray, scrum-half, age 22, caps 1

Eoin Reddan, scrum-half, age 30, caps 31

Ronan O'Gara, fly-half, age 34, caps 110

Jonathan Sexton, fly-half, age 26, caps 18

Gordon D'Arcy, centre, age 31, caps 58

Brian O'Driscoll (c), centre, age 32, caps 113

Paddy Wallace, centre, age 32, caps 28

Fergus McFadden, centre, age 25, caps 4

Tommy Bowe, wing, age 27, caps 39

Keith Earls, wing, age 23, caps 20

Andrew Trimble, wing, age 26, caps 35

Rob Kearney, full-back, age 25, caps 29

Geordan Murphy, full-back, age 33, caps 69

Average age 28.5

Average caps 35.7