Ireland full-back Rob Kearney has insisted that up to seven teams have a realistic chance of winning the Rugby World Cup later this year.
The tournament is expected to be one of the tightest ever staged and Kearney believes that Ireland, who have won the last two Six Nations championships, have a realistic chance of success.
He told Sky Sports News: "Can we win the World Cup? I think you've got six or seven teams now who genuinely do have a chance of winning the tournament.
"As an Ireland team we've always said and fully believe that on our day, if we perform to our ability, we can beat any team in the world. We just need a lot of things to go our way.
"We need to make sure that injury profile wise, we're not losing too many key players, and on those big days we do get the bounce of the ball."
Ireland will play France, Italy, Canada and Romania in their pool.
