So then, that was the week that was. The week when Irish rugby, depending on your viewpoint, either suffered further evidence of a temporary blip or hit a wall. But it’s hard to think of a worse one for the Celtic nations, who all lost in the first round for the first time since the initial Six Nations of 2000.
The 36-14 loss in the Stade de France last Thursday was Ireland’s heaviest defeat to France since the 33-10 beating in the same stadium back in 2010. For Scotland, they suffered the ignominy of losing back-to-back in Rome for the first time, while Wales’ 48-7 loss to England was their 12th Six Nations defeat in a row.
On that Saturday in 2000, an ageing Italy team had one last sting with an emotional 34-20 win against Scotland on their Six Nations debut at the old Stadio Flaminio. Later in the day, England routed Ireland 50-18 in Twickenham before France hammered Wales 36-3 in Cardiff.
Are wounded Ireland vulnerable to an Italian job?
A fortnight later, Ireland would spark a dramatic upturn with a transformative 44-22 win over then-bogey side Scotland after blooding five new caps in a much-changed side. With that said, England and France would still claim seven of the next eight championship titles.
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Certainly, many among the English media corps presume the natural order of things has been restored. One of them enquired last Wednesday, in between the captain’s runs at the Stade de France, if this reporter was coming back there for “the final” between France and England on the last Saturday of the tournament.
France and England should be dominant, given their playing numbers and financial wealth, and especially now that French rugby has finally aligned its clubs and the international team. It’s been a minor miracle that Wales and Ireland have made the Six Nations so competitive. Since 2007 inclusive, Ireland have won six titles, followed by Wales on five, England on four and France also on four.
It could never last and clearly it won’t, for it’s hard to believe that as recently as 2021 Wales won the title and were within one play of a Grand Slam. But it’s equally hard to recall Welsh rugby being at a lower ebb than now. The road back looks both uphill and long.
As for Ireland, opinions differ among people who have a knowledgeable affiliation with rugby in this country, as to whether this is a lull or something deeper. One can make an argument either way.
Irish rugby has good structures in place, with four well-supported provinces. Against that, however, the gap between Leinster and the rest has never been wider, which is unhealthy. For all the successes under his watch, it is a legacy of the David Nucifora years.
Hence, Leinster remain the only viable Champions Cup contenders and possibly one in decline. There is also an increasing suspicion that hiring Jacques Nienaber and radically adopting his defensive system has destabilised the province and, by extension, Ireland. Meanwhile, the other three provinces have been consigned to the Challenge Cup ahead of the Six Nations for the first time ever.
Following last Thursday’s emphatic loss in Paris, there wasn’t much in the way of green shoots in Ireland XV’s 52-14 loss to England A in Limerick. Similar sentiments go for the Under-20s’ 50-21 defeat to their French counterparts in Perpignan.
Given the performance of South African referee Christopher Allison in the Stade Aimé Giral, when twice yellow-carding Irish players amid a 17-8 penalty count in the home side’s favour, the Under-20s’ loss had mitigatory factors.
The Ireland XV – or A – game was the most demoralising, although perhaps we shouldn’t have been too surprised. Such is their depth, England are invariably strong at this level whereas for cobbled-together Ireland A sides, these are no-win matches.
It’s hard to know what Irish positives emerged from this exercise. Certainly not financial, judging from the attendance. But if nothing else it should quieten that lazy, age-old bar-stool demand that Ireland should “blood more young players”.
It has to be said the Irish team had very little rub of the green or bounce of the ball in the Stade de France. On another night, Sam Prendergast’s volley to prevent a 50-22 could have been hailed as ingenious had it bounced over the touchline.
The officials gave them nothing, literally so in the first half, when France were not penalised once and Cian Prendergast was pinged for side entry when he should have been awarded a turnover penalty in the build-up to the first try (when there was a forward pass).
In the second half, probably any player other than Antoine Dupont would have been yellow carded for that one-handed knockdown, but not him and certainly not in Paris, when there were no replays of that and few Irish in attendance. Alas, the shortage of away fans probably won’t bother the bean counters given the 7.2 million audience on France Télévisions.
That said, the Irish defence was passive and the attack blunt. Even so, with 10 frontliners sidelined, there is neither the scope nor need for a radical overhaul of the team right now. As for the dual playmaker option, that’s a handy Plan B for the last quarter, but cannot mean dropping Stuart McCloskey, the focal point of Ireland’s attack and possibly their best player in Paris.
Ireland have now lost four of their last seven Tests against Tier One teams and the margins have not been narrow. A green-tinged Lions tour like never before clearly hasn’t helped and maybe this drop is set to last, but we need to be realistic and have a reset.
Ireland have done this before, with third-placed finishes in 2016 and 2017, as well as 2019, 2020 and 2021. Grand Slams followed in both eras. Wales had Lions hangovers when bulk suppliers in 2009 and 2013, finishing fourth and third in the ensuing Six Nations. But they still made semi-finals and quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2011 and 2015, as well as a Grand Slam in 2012.
In any event, the events of last Thursday night in Paris have reinforced the view that in a particularly challenging Six Nations for Ireland, Italy have never looked so dangerous.
