SILVER LINING
Ireland secure Triple Crown but Six Nations title goes to France
IRELAND finished their Six Nations campaign with a first Triple Crown since 2018 but Andy Farrell’s men fell agonisingly short of the title as France sealed victory over England last night, securing their first championship and Grand Slam since 2010 in the process.
A patchy 26-5 victory over Scotland was this Ireland squad’s final act of the tournament, with Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Josh van der Flier and replacement scrum-half Conor Murray all crossing for tries in a bonus-point win.
Ultimately, their efforts were not enough to snatch the trophy on
Super Saturday, but Farrell will draw plenty of positives from this campaign, with his squad finishing with the most potent attack and the meanest defence.
Attention will now turn to this summer’s tour of New Zealand, with three Tests against the All Blacks on the agenda and Farrell admitted the looming trip in July would be a ‘priceless’ experience as this Ireland squad continue to build towards the 2023 World Cup in France.
‘It’s massive. It’s the perfect opportunity that we need,’ said the Ireland head coach (left).
‘We’ve talked time and time again about the lack of touring. It’s priceless. It looks like we’re able
to take a slightly bigger group, which is great. There’s people that’s already had a sniff.
‘Some people that have not had a game but we want to see them under pressure and going to New Zealand there will be no pressure like it. It’s the perfect opportunity for us to find out more about ourselves.’
Johnny Sexton has signalled his intention to push on towards next year’s World Cup in France after signing a one-year contract extension earlier this month.
Sexton will be 38 by the time the global showpiece looms into focus but the Leinster out-half is determined to make a mark at his fourth and final World Cup.
And the Ireland captain feels this squad — on the back of a promising Six Nations — is building nicely towards the big one in 2023.
He remarked: ‘We’ve got great potential, haven’t we? That’s what we have at the moment and we’ve got to make it reality and we’ve got to keep building over the next, whatever it is, 18 months to make sure that when it does come around we’ve taken a slightly different approach.
‘We’ve started talking about it already that this is the journey, which is a different approach to previous management that I’ve worked under which I think is the right way to do it. We’re confident in the journey we’re on.
‘But at the moment it’s only an opportunity. We need to keep developing. We had some young guys in during the week who were incredibly impressive and we’ve had some young guys in through the
last year who have been incredibly impressive. We need to bring them up to speed and make sure they’re ready in 18 months’ time. We’ll get a few bolters, I think, guys that can make a huge difference and that’s what we need over the next 18 months to make the squad stronger and better.
‘I’m sure that what Andy will be doing and we’re relying on the leadership to do too.’
The Six Nations may have eluded this group — the second-round defeat in Paris ultimately putting paid to their title ambitions — but
Farrell will be buoyed by the performances of the rookies in this squad, with the likes of Sheehan and Mack Hansen enjoying breakout campaigns.
After an inconsistent first 18 months at the helm, Farrell’s Ireland are steadily making progress and Sexton feels that this group is evolving with every passing game.
‘That’s the most important thing, we keep going forward,’ the Ireland skipper added. ‘From day one under Andy Farrell, we’ve been getting better and better. Last year, Andy Farrell was getting written off, I was getting written off, we were getting written off. We know you’re not always that far from being slated off. We will keep our feet on the ground but we are enjoying it.
‘We have bought into it. We are the closest bunch you could imagine... we said beforehand we will try and get the five points then sit back with a beer and enjoy whatever happens.’
Ireland fell short on the night, but they will feel they are moving forward.