FREE INSIDE GRAND SLAM 2018 SPECIAL
12-PAGE PULLOUT PLUS SOUVENIR POSTER
They are an exceptional bunch and this is only the beginning for them
DETAILS don’t get very much attention when an achievement as rare and enormous as a Grand Slam is under discussion.
The sheer magnitude of the occasion and its operatic sweep mean the talk is of history and heroism, as of course it must be.
But the secret of this Irish team is contained in the story of their win against England on Saturday.
It is there in the brutal economy they showed, when turning four chances into three tries; the decision of Jordan Larmour to try and make the line himself rather than use Keith Earls outside him was the only time in the match that an obvious try- scoring opportunity didn’t result in a score.
It is there as well in the leadership, spread through the generations, from Johnny Sexton to Tadhg Furlong, and Rob Kearney continuing his best season since he starred on the 2009 Lions tour.
It is there in a plain fact: when Ireland needed their best performance of the championship, they produced it.
This was the best they have played since rampaging through South Africa in November.
We wondered where that level of performance had gone, even as they racked up win after win this spring. When it was required, in the lair of a wounded but angry and imposing England, Ireland produced it.
That is not a trait ordinarily associated with Irish sides in any code. And that, above all else, is what distinguishes this team not only from other Irish rugby teams, but from most other Irish teams to have competed internationally.
They are an exceptional bunch — and they believe this is only the beginning.
They won’t bellow it, but there is a feeling within the playing group that they can get better. The management wouldn’t dispute that.
James Ryan, Dan Leavy, Joey Carbery and Jacob Stockdale have years of bettering themselves still to come.
As Joe Schmidt commented on Saturday night, speaking in a corridor in the lowest floor of Twickenham, sport is not linear. He wasn’t being defeatist, but just acknowledging an old truth: nothing is guaranteed.
So this could be as good as it gets for this generation — but it doesn’t have to be, and the evidence encourages one to believe this outfit won’t settle into their success as if it was a cosy armchair by a warm fire. They will look to progress. That is possible but injuries could be the greatest danger. Johnny Sexton endured another head injury assessment in London, and rarely does a game pass without the medics paying a visit to him for some complaint or other.
He gets targeted and he understands that, but he is critical to Ireland’s plans, which are now shaped by the World Cup in 18 months’ time.
For Sexton to get there in the whole of his health, will require Leinster to do without him for significant stretches of the intervening period.
That should benefit Carbery; his champions argue that he isn’t getting his opportunities to understudy Sexton, but he should get plenty of playing time with the province between now and autumn 2019.
The fitness of another Leinster half back is very important, too. Luke McGrath is the most persuasive deputy to Conor Murray, but missed the last three rounds of the Six Nations after damaging a knee.
He needs to not only establish himself consistently in the Ireland squad, but take any chance he gets to show that he can play to the high standards set by Murray over recent seasons. Peter O’Mahony is another who needs to stay in one piece, while the recuperation of Robbie Henshaw will be scrutinised. The likes of him and McGrath need to make the plane for the summer tour to Australia, because it is on that three-Test trip that the depth of this squad will be challenged again.
It passed that test in a dazzling way over the seven weeks that have just passed us, but even the very best sides can only absorb so much punishment.
Eventually, the injuries take their toll. If there is a part of the Irish team where this theory could be bucked, it is the back row.
Sean O’Brien’s recent injury on Leinster duty prompted sympathy, but he was effectively forgot- ten about within hours of it after Dan Leavy s t arred against Scotland.
He was marvellous against England, too, and Josh van der Flier should be back in time for the start of next season.
O’Mahony and CJ Stander look like immovable pillars in Schmidt’s planning, but the No7 shirt will be keenly contested. Leavy will not surrender it easily.
Nor will Rob Kearney gallantly step aside at full back in favour of Larmour. The youngster is a sensational talent, and his attacking ability in an offensive line that also includes Garry Ringrose would present constant problems to opposing defences.
Perhaps it is the arrival of Larmour that makes some impatient about Kearney keeping his place in the side. The veteran finished that talk in Twickenham. He could, perhaps should, have been man of the match for a second week in a row.
‘I think Rob still has a future with us,’ said Schmidt. ‘You don’t pick people if you don’t think they have got a future with you.
‘I am not sure what more people want from Rob Kearney, 140 running metres last time (against Scotland), if he doesn’t get that first try (on Saturday), we don’t get into the contest.’
Kearney, Sexton and Rory Best, whose position at hooker looks solid and who needs to feel the heat of a fit Niall Scannell challenging him, will have to be nursed through the remainder of this season and all of the next one.
That in itself will not be enough to protect them or any of the other players against injury.
But if they and most of the other pivots can be kept hale and hearty, then Ireland will get better. They have the coach, the desire and the talent.
The future is theirs to dictate.