Ireland have played at each World Cup since 1987 but have never reached the semifinals. This year, however, they have been in great form and will fancy their chances to reach the last four.
Ireland have one of the strongest squads in their history and in March won the Six Nations Championship for the second year in a row after beating Scotland 40-10.
In one of the closest finishes in history they pipped England and Wales to the title on points difference.
Their only defeat in the Championship was against Wales (23-16), while they beat England 19-9 and France 18-11 amongst others.
In recent warm-up matches for the World Cup they started off well with two victories, but then slumped to two defeats.
They beat Wales 35-21 in Cardiff on 8 August and Scotland 28-22 in Dublin a week later to move up to an all time high of third on the world rankings.
Since then however, they lost 16-10 to Wales in Dublin and 21-13 to England in London to move down to sixth on the world rankings.
Ireland will be captained by the veteran lock forward Paul O Connell who has already won 104 caps for his country and who will retire after the World Cup.
He will lead an experienced squad boasting more than 1 000 caps in total at an average of 34 per player.
Some of the star players include fullback Rob Kearney, wings Tommy Bowe and Simon Zebo, fly half Jonathan Sexton, and loose-forwards Sean O Brien, Jamie Heaslip and Peter O Mahoney.
Ireland World Cup squad:
Forwards: Rory Best, Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Iain Henderson, Chris Henry, Jack McGrath, Jordi Murphy, Sean O ‘Brien, Paul O ‘Connell (captain), Peter O ‘Mahony, Mike Ross, Donnacha Ryan, Richardt Strauss, Devin Toner, Nathan White.
Backs: Tommy Bowe, Darren Cave, Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald, Robbie Henshaw, Paddy Jackson, Dave Kearney, Rob Kearney, Ian Madigan, Conor Murray, Jared Payne, Eoin Reddan, Jonathan Sexton, Simon Zebo.
Coach: Joe Schmidt.
Ireland will play in Group D against France, Italy, Canada and Romania.
World ranking: 6
Recent matches:
Sep 5: England 21 Ireland 13, Twickenham
Aug 29: Ireland 10 Wales 16, Dublin
Aug 15: Ireland 28 Scotland 22, Dublin
Aug 8: Wales 21 Ireland 35, Cardiff
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