IRELAND HAVE TAKEN THEIR GAME TO A NEW LEVEL —
IN THIS time of heartstopping unpredictability, Ireland’s success is one of the few remaining certainties.
In a Six Nations blown asunder Murrayfield on Saturday night, Ireland are the sole team unharmed after three marvellous weekends of action.
Only Joe Schmidt’s side can still win a Grand Slam. And yes, the path to here and there is littered with treacherous challenges.
We supposed the mightiest of them would rise in Twickenham on St Patrick’s Day and if that still seems the most probable sequence of events, the Scots have posted notice of their growing ambitions, too.
They played like a French team of the classical kind, wilful and vulnerable, when blitzing England for three tries in the first half, and their game, if still highly erratic, will do serious damage on March 10 if the Irish defence does not sharpen up.
With that caveat dealt with, start anticipating the meeting in Lansdowne Road in 12 days’ time.
Schmidt will not favour a match played in the temper of a sevens contest, but he has every reason to be confident that in an open game, his men would still be able to do more damage than they sustain.
Because on Saturday Ireland delivered: not merely a victory, but in a style shaped by ambition and daring and bravery.
There was no stultifying attempt to wear Wales down by keeping the ball high in the airspace over Dublin 4.
Instead, Ireland sieged the Welsh 22. They carried hard and straight, but finished off the grunt work with some stylish singlemindedness, from Johnny Sexton’s unerring pass to Jacob Stockdale, to the work that sent Cian Healy charging over in the second half.
It was one of the best performances of the Joe Schmidt age, and that is acknowledging the weak defending that kept Wales invested in the outcome long after they should have been finished off.
The sight of Stockdale streaking away has been the recurring image of the victory, delight spread wide across his face on his dash to the line in the 80th minute.
But the penalty kicked by Conor Murray should be one of the enduring cameos that people remember from this contest. It gave Ireland a 10-point buffer only a minute before Steff Evans scored Wales’ third try in the 77th minute.
Without Murray’s successful kick, the Welsh would have been level going into the final two minutes, and the Grand Slam talk would be sweetness wasted on the desert air this morning.
Sexton was unable to line up the penalty owing to an injured glute muscle. Murray kicking a penalty is not a Halley’s Comet event: he did it in the win against New Zealand in Chicago, and he has taken the tee for Munster this season as well.
He is not an established placekicker, though.
And yet he was impressively assured in sweeping over his score on Saturday, but its importance went beyond the three points. It showed that Ireland’s threat to other teams is evolving; Sexton may suffer an injury but there is someone else to take responsibility in a moment of pressure.
Good teams find a way. Ireland did that on Saturday and we have known for some time they are a good team.
One senses they moved some way beyond that towards a more rarefied standing last weekend.
Greatness is not easily won. Ask England and all those who long ago selected Eddie Jones’ team as the All Blacks’ nearest rivals in the World Cup context.
However, if Ireland win a Grand Slam then their credentials as a world-class team would be difficult to dispute.
Talk of that stripe would have Schmidt blanching, and the Scots did give a reminder that there is a job of work to be done if Ireland’s Grand Slam designs are to last to March 17.
But anything less than a showdown for the clean sweep on that date would be dreadfully disappointing, no matter how much Scotland have improved.
Saturday presented as one of those challenges that ambitious teams in all sports eventually confront on their rise.
Lose, and any doubts that linger grow thick and choking. Defeat undermines any progress previously achieved.
Win, though, and the side break through to another plane. And how Ireland won deepens the feelcoming ing that this was a substantial test they passed two days ago.
Poor defending almost ruined the good work of the previous 55 minutes. Schmidt was quick to praise the work of Andy Farrell on Saturday evening, but the inquiry within the coaching team will be a great deal more thorough than that.
For the second match in a row, the side’s defences were breached repeatedly in the final quarter. The system is supposed to withstand substitutions; the player in is meant to understand and execute tactics as fully as the man he is replacing.
If that lassitude continues, then Scotland and their daring new style will take advantage.
There will, then, be no Irish coach busier than Farrell for the next week.
The good news is much more plentiful than the bad, remember.
Five points clear at the top of the table, Ireland could win the championship while losing one of their two remaining games.
That would be a dreary way to triumph; remember those pictures of England players being presented with the Six Nations trophy in the room of a Dublin hotel hours after their Grand Slam tilt ended in defeat at Lansdowne Road?
And Ireland and their supporters are entitled to richer dreams anyway.
The Slam is not a fanciful target now. Rather, it tantalises as the culmination of a spring-time of improvement.
Fit this into the wider frame that also contains the World Cup in 18 months’ time, and Ireland are in fine shape.
There will be no bullish pronouncements from Schmidt or his players, but they don’t need them.
Their potential and their hunger are palpable.
The team’s threat is evolving
The Slam is not a fanciful target now