Gerry Thornley: It’s staring us in the face, this Ireland team is simply not what it was

Simon Easterby has a point. When you start off a campaign strongly and finish it anti-climactic, winning four games out of five is viewed differently than if the results had been the other way around. It’s akin to a 2-2 or 3-3 draw in football when one team comes from two or three down. The team making the comeback, and their supporters, are the happier of the two and they are also lauded more even though the result is the same for both.

Yet each Six Nations campaign tells a story and, what’s more, Ireland’s was essentially a reprieve of last year’s championship. Ireland’s best performance by a distance was their first, that record-breaking 38-17 win over France on the opening night in Marseille.

They made it three wins from three 12 months ago by beating Wales at home, but lost 23-22 in Twickenham before falling over the line with a laboured 17-13 win over Scotland to clinch the Triple Crown and retain the title.

This year Ireland’s best performance was their opening bonus point 27-22 win over England achieved with some real attacking verve and four tries, three of them from long range. It was a marked improvement from the autumn, albeit two late tries afforded England a losing bonus point.

READ MORE

Once again Ireland went on to make it three wins from three by beating Scotland and Wales away, thereby also retaining the Triple Crown, before being comprehensively beaten at home by France and falling over the line against Italy in Rome.

So what do we infer from such strikingly similar campaigns? Well those strong opening displays came when the squad was fresh and coming off their pre-tournament training camp in Portugal.

But then, seemingly, the five-game championship took something of a toll, either mentally or physically, or probably both. Ireland’s body language and lack of energy in Rome compared to a more vibrant Azzurri team could perhaps be at least partly attributed to a hangover from their round four defeat but it clearly goes much deeper than that. It could be that the years are catching up with an experienced side, although as Johnny Waterson pointed out in these pages last Friday a similar age profile was no a barrier to South Africa retaining the World Cup.

Granted, Ireland’s 17 tries were only three less than in the Grand Slam campaign of 2023 and two less than last year’s total. While several of the 20-minute red cards were an awful look for the sport, there were a record 108 tries (eclipsing the previous high of 91 two seasons ago), yet Ireland’s tally was some way short of the 30 scored by France (beating England’s record of 19 in 2001).

Admittedly this is a golden generation for the French and the 2025 Bleus will probably go down as the best team not to win a Grand Slam. Had they taken one of five gilt-edged try-scoring chance against England they’d have gained five bonus point wins. Their points’ differential of +125 is the biggest of any team since the +127 of England’s Grand Slam vintage of 2003.

France are European rugby’s true heavyweights, and ominously this was the first time they won both the men’s title and the Under-20 title in the same year, while Ireland’s wooden spoon at that grade could in part be attributed to five injured forwards. But the constant juggling suggested Neil Doak didn’t know his best side.

True, this was only the second time in Six Nations history that three teams won four matches out of five, emulating Ireland’s title-winning campaign in 2015 when eclipsing England and Wales on that most dramatic of all Super Saturdays.

A decade on Wales were wooden spoonists for the second year running, an award which Italy again deserved to avoid, while Scotland again varnished the tournament with some sumptuous tries and running rugby if ultimately finishing fourth.

Perhaps Ireland’s third place feels more anti-climactic because they also finished behind England for a few reasons. One, well, they’re England and, two, Ireland were much the better side for around 70 minutes of their round one clash.

France also left five tries behind them and Finn Russell three conversions behind him in Twickenham. Yet England found real momentum, scoring 17 tries and 115 points in their final two games, and finished with eight tries more than Ireland despite the same number of attacking 22 metre entries (49).

By contrast Ireland’s attack looked increasingly blunt. Against an Italy team which had conceded 11 tries and 15 line breaks against France, and seven tries and 11 line breaks against England, Ireland managed just four tries and three line breaks last Saturday.

The bluntness was typified by the close-range pick-and-goes or one-off runners in the red zone, which lacked dynamism. Only after three power plays were the backs allowed to show the forwards the way when Hugo Keenan scored off Jack Crowley’s deft pass, but would they have been trusted to do so, as England did in their endgame against France with Elliot Daly’s try?

For all the determination to find some shape Ireland’s attack was narrow, players are not running on to the ball as before, nor is the footwork as sharp, and ditto the speed and the quality of the passing which had been a hallmark of both Leinster and Ireland but no longer.

Watching Henry Pollock decorate England’s win in Cardiff with his brace of late tries, nor do Ireland have such pace and X factor off the bench.

England’s power game is also back, Maro Itoje looks set to be Lions captain and if Andy Farrell is to load his coaching ticket with Paul O’Connell, John Fogarty and Johnny Sexton then he may have some awkward conversations with Irish players ahead.

As disconcerting has been the Irish defence which conceded 14 tries compared to seven last season and six the year before. Regularly clipped on the edges, only Italy had more missed more tackles than Ireland’s 135.

It always felt that the 2023 Rugby World Cup and that epic quarter-final against the All Blacks could be an understandable peak for this Irish team – the series win in New Zealand, the Grand Slam, the 17-game winning run, number one in the world.

That’s not a terrible eventuality in itself. Sport is cyclical. Even the All Blacks or the Springboks have relative lulls, as do France and England. But this Irish team is simply not what it was.

gerrythornely@irishtimes.com

Click here to read article