Ireland 32; France 19
The story of this current Ireland team is so outrageous that if it wasn't true, it would be deemed too fanciful even for fictional use. We have come from the old era of boot, bite and b****x to one of brain, brilliance and sometimes breath-taking beauty. And not for the first time, the emergence of one of our national teams as world power is due to the influence of an Englishman.
Andy Farrell looked like a beaten docket when in the immediate post-Joe Schmidt era we began to lose games in the Six Nations and seemed a team lacking in direction. When Covid intervened to stall that championship in 2020, it was as if it gave time and space for the former rugby league international to spread his view within the squad as to how he wanted his vision become a reality.
Since then Ireland has climbed to No. 1 in the world and for those of us expecting France to bring an end to such exalted heights last Saturday, well we were pleasantly surprised by the Farrell philosophy yet again.
Winning away in Wales and beating the current Grand Slam champions at home has underlined the progress made in the past 18 months to two years. From our loss in Paris last year and one defeat in New Zealand, we have managed to have a perfect record ever since. And that has included two wins away against the All Blacks and home victories over World Champions South Africa and Australia as well.
And it has also included a rake of injuries which normally would have seen us beaten out the gate. Farrell has fostered the squad ethic and has pointed out that the likes of Johnny Sexton is as liable to get injured in a game against France in the upcoming World Cup as a Six Nations' game, so replacements must be exactly that - able to fill in when needed.
Let's recap for a second. Tadgh Furlong was out for these first two matches and Finlay Bealham has emerged in his stead as well able to hold his end up. Even when he too went off on Saturday Tom O'Toole came on and in his 15-20 minute cameo looked as good as Furlong and better than Bealham. Ditto Ross Byrne, who came in for Sexton before the 50-minute mark and steered the ship home with aplomb. Even the loss of Dan Sheehan alongside Furlong in the front row failed to unsettle us on Saturday as our forward division faced up to a formidable French front row in particular and came away with enhanced reputations.
The head coach felt “heroic” was a good term for some displays - most notably how Conor Murray played after leaving camp for two days when his dad was seriously injured in a road crash and for how both Man of the Match Caolan Doris and fourth try scorer Garry Ringrose kept going when everyone around them, especially the visitors, were gasping for breath such was the intensity of the conflict between the recognized top two nations in the world.
Fabien Galthie, the French head coach, said they would have to accept defeat into their ranks for the first time in 14 games as Ireland produced a bonus point victory thanks to tries by Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Andrew Porter and Ringrose with Sexton and Byrne booting eight and five points respectively.
After all the talk, Farrell settled on Ireland's grit in seeing through the difficult moments when tries were left behind, particularly in the first half. "There are many moments I could pick out ... Bundee Aki chasing back in the dying minutes to secure a ball for us, Tom O'Toole who has not played any rugby and he is making line breaks right, left and centre, Garry Ringrose is absolutely dead on his feet and then he goes in in the corner for a superb try. I thought it was heroic from our guys, and we certainly left a few tries out there.
"I’m not being greedy and I’m certainly pleased to get the bonus point but we got down into the French half quite a number of times and onto the French line and didn’t come away with what we should have, so plenty to work on. But at the same time, it’s a heroic performance, and it had to be against big, strong fast men who were always going to be dangerous on the break."
He was right as the 51,000 fans witnessed a game that went way beyond expectations in terms of quality and delivery with Ireland ending up with the bonus-point win. This was was our 22nd victory in the last 23 games, making the Aviva Stadium something of a fortress for the boys in green. Let's just put that in context - the Irish team which played out the lat 20 minutes did so without Lions stars Sexton, Furlong, Robbie Henshaw, Sheehan, Jamison Gibson-Park, Murray and Peter O'Mahony. Now could you imagine an Irish team having a hope in hell without those stellar names in the line-up a few seasons ago?
Of course we still have the conundrum of this being a World Cup year. The reality that history has taught us is that we follow a good season by failing dismally in this competition. Also consider this, the four top teams Ireland, France, New Zealand and South Africa are on the side of the draw which suggests that two of those stellar names will depart at that first knockout stage. So no pressure then?
Well, Farrell's main strength, which he is passing onto the squad, is to welcome adversity and still triumph. It is a novel way for an Irish team to view proceedings, given that up to recently we hated being labelled as favorites to win a match, never mind a competition. Without boasting Ireland wants to win every match, improve in every game and ultimately win the trophies on offer - the Grand Slam and the World Cup in '23.
Lofty notions for sure but let's see how far we can sail on this voyage of fancy! One thing we know is there are no easy games and Italy in Rose and more pertinently Scotland in Murrayfield will test us before we welcome the “auld enemy,” England, to Lansdowne Road for our final game around St Patrick's Day time.
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe; Johnny Sexton (capt), Conor Murray; Andrew Porter, Rob Herring, Finlay Bealham; Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan; Peter O'Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris Replacements: Rónan Kelleher, Dave Kilcoyne, Tom O'Toole, Iain Henderson, Jack Conan, Craig Casey, Ross Byrne, Bundee Aki.
