With respect to England, Australia and New Zealand, the heroes of the World Cup have been Ireland. The public here and a green-wigged Blarney Army, who numbered about 2,000 for the 34-16 upset of Samoa at Parramatta on Wednesday, have been engrossed by the team's Australian odyssey, which could end in them tackling the Kangaroos in the semi-finals in Sydney a week tomorrow.

Wayne Kerr began the tournament as an object of ridicule, only to emerge as its unlikely headline-grabber for something other than his name. The prop, from Carlow, one of three players in the squad from the six-team domestic Ireland league, said after the upset of Samoa: “It would be outrageous [to face Australia] but there you go. We'd back ourselves against anyone.”

If Ireland's team spirit could be bottled, England would take a large gulp from it before their final pool match against New Zealand here today. The two teams left for Australia last month on the same flight, England in business class and Ireland in economy. “We'll stay in there with the chickens and goats because it serves us well,” Andy Kelly, the Ireland coach, who lost his job at Dewsbury last season, said.

While Australia cruise to a seemingly inevitable seventh successive World Cup success and England and New Zealand tussle over who will be sacrificial lambs in the final in a fortnight, Ireland have provided the fun and shock value. They were seen as the meat in a Samoan and Tongan sandwich in their pool but now face Fiji on the Gold Coast in Queensland in the semi-final qualifier on Monday.

Fiji were also responsible for a big upset, when they dealt a knockout blow to France in a 42-6 victory. Simon Finnigan, the Bradford Bulls and Ireland loose forward, said: “It's another big set of lads we've got to face. That looks as though it's going to be the story of our World Cup.”

It is also England's dilemma against New Zealand, and Tony Smith, the coach, has switched Martin Gleeson to stand-off in place of the injured Leon Pryce and introduced Paul Sykes at centre and Rob Purdham at loose forward in place of Kevin Sinfield.