WAY OUT IN FRONT
Never in history have Ireland been this far ahead of their rivals
IFor France, everything is murky, grey and sinister
T’S been a decidedly weird Six Nations, even by post-World Cup standards. Everything just feels a little bit off.
England, based on finishing third in the world and on a run of eight wins in their last nine matches, are one of the top sides on the planet, and yet total muck to watch.
The Scots do not know if they are coming or going, thrashing about in a frenzied grapple with rugby schizophrenia. One minute mesmerising, the next decomposing — and always with a finger poised to point when things go wrong.
Meanwhile, poor old Wales are on their uppers, their internal systems imploding and their international hopes based on a bunch of likeable but undercooked youngsters straining to the tunes of Now That’s What I Call Gatland 2012 without the nous or ability to find their rhythm. And the French? Mon Dieu. The French are in bits. Rarely has rugby seen a collection of such natural talents in such complete disarray, they are performing to a level of cluelessness that would make headless chickens look like Red Arrows.
Nothing makes sense, everything is murky, and grey and sinister — like Frodo when he puts on the ring. It is glaringly obvious that Fabien Galthie’s side are mentally mangled since failing at their own World Cup. These guys need another reset to get over this funk and it would be a major surprise if Galthie is not gone sooner rather than later. But then you have Ireland… Andy Farrell’s side are blissfully gambolling through the Six Nations meadows without a care in the world.
It is like the quarter-final loss to New Zealand, consigning Ireland to 40 years of World Cup failure, never happened.
This has been hard for some of us older, gnarlier heads to stomach. France have been to three finals and six semi-finals and they’re in tatters, Ireland have never won a single knockout match in 10 tournaments and we’re full of the joys? Like we said earlier, weird. However, once you do try to make your peace with that, there is no doubt this Ireland side are operating at a level of excellence we have not seen before. There have been good Ireland sides in the past, even great ones, but at no stage in the 141-year history of the Four, Five and Six Nations has an Ireland team been this far ahead of the competition.
There is now a truly enormous gap between Farrell’s side and the chasing pack in the Six Nations. In football terms, it is like Liverpool being in a Champions League pool with Preston North End, Bristol City, Grimsby Town and Cobh Ramblers.
The proof is in the picking. The Lions are always a good barometer of where a team is at and if Farrell was picking his Lions Test XV tomorrow on form, it would be completely dominated by Irish players and nobody could cry ‘bias’ based on the hard evidence before our eyes.