With the 2025 Six Nations fast approaching, the thoughts of many will be turning to consideration of Ireland’s prospects. Defending champions, Grand Slam winners in 2023 and runners-up the year before - it might seem as if we have little to worry about. However, appearances, as all sports fans know, are often deceptive.
Although Ireland have had a stellar record in the tournament in recent years, the lackluster Autumn Nations Series has sown seeds of doubt a-plenty in the minds of rugby fans up and down the country. What was a well-oiled machine throughout last year misfired badly in November, and did so across the whole series of games, leading to tendrils of doubt creeping around the hearts of the Irish rugby faithful.
Coming off a very impressive Six Nations Championship campaign in 2024, in which their only loss was a one-point deficit against England in the penultimate game, Ireland looked to be well prepared to take on the current world champions in their own backyard in last year’s summer tour of South Africa.
So it turned out to be, and Ireland shared the spoils after an incredible come-back to clinch the second test in Kings Park Stadium, Durban 25-24 with a second successful drop-goal from Ciarán Frawley in the 80th minute.
Indeed, many considered a shared series to be the least that Ireland deserved after coming close to victory in the first test as well. Ireland have been something of a bogey team for South Africa, having won four of the last five fixtures between the teams.
Irish fans had much to be happy about then as the Autumn Series approached, but the team didn’t pick up where they left off in mid-July, and the series left us with many unanswered questions and more than a little trepidation ahead of a tournament for which Ireland will be without the steady hand of Andy Farrell on the tiller.
He is on secondment to the Lions as they prepare for next summer’s tour of Australia, and so ultimate responsibility for the squad falls to Simon Easterby.
While Easterby is a very competent and experienced coach - he was Ireland’s forwards coach from 2014 to 2021 and defense coach since then - he faces a daunting challenge. How is he to transform the misfiring vehicle we saw in the autumn series back into the smooth-running Rolls Royce of a team we’re used to seeing?
One supposes that he’ll start by analyzing what went wrong last November. Ireland were sloppy; passes didn’t go to hand, and the set-up in attack looked all wrong. When Ireland are at their best the attack is fluid with receivers running on to the ball, taking it at pace, and creating line breaks or at the very least making yards over the gain line. The passing is usually snappy, short and accurate.
All three of those attributes were missing in the autumn games, and there is Easterby’s starting point. He needs to restore that accuracy and then, having done so, layer on a bit of deception, which is crucial to Ireland’s attack as well.
Ireland’s Caelan Doris wins the lineout in the game against Australia during the Autumn Series. [Inpho/Dan Sheridan]
Defensively, Ireland were so-so during the autumn series, conceding only five tries across the four games, one each to New Zealand, Australia and Argentina and two to Fiji in their 52-17 win over the Pacific Islanders. However, the try count is not the full story. Ireland’s discipline was appalling throughout the series conceding 18 points off the kicking tee to New Zealand, 12 to Argentina and 12 to Australia. This is another obvious work-on for Easterby and his coaching staff.
Provided Ireland can improve in those two areas - accuracy in attack and discipline in defence - their prospects of retaining the title will be quite good. Crucially, their two most difficult opponents, England and France, will be coming to Lansdowne Road where home advantage could turn out to be very important, particularly in the France game. They go into the tournament as warm favorites, having won three out of three in autumn against Japan, New Zealand and Argentina, but home advantage in that fixture might swing things Ireland’s way.
England will also be competitive, but they have had their own travails during the autumn, especially in defence. They lost three of their four games in November, defensive lapses and last quarter collapses being a feature of all three reversals to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. That said, all three games were highly entertaining and little separated the teams at the full-time whistle.
If England can shore up their defence, they will be serious contenders in 2025. Steve Borthwick is coming under pressure to abandon the blitz-style defence they have been favouring and return to a drift. However, he would be foolish to do so as their defensive system is close to being fully bedded in and once it is, it will be far more robust than in recent outings.
In attack they are wonderful to watch with the outrageously talented Marcus Smyth at out-half and real flair in mid-field and in the three-quarters. Their offensive kicking game is excellent and Ollie Sleightholme is a prolific try- scorer for Northampton in the Gallagher Premiership and he maintained that try-scoring prowess in autumn bagging two against Australia and another against Japan in the final game. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Tommy Freeman are in excellent form this season as well.
The England pack is formidable. The return from injury of Luke Cowan- Dickie gives them real depth at hooker and they have an embarrassment of riches in the back-row where, they are a match for the best in the tournament.
The three away games should be victories for Ireland but Scotland are a perennial banana-skin for every team in the tournament. Ireland won’t underestimate them despite their recent dominant record, having won ten on the spin in all tournaments, with Scotland’s last victory coming in a 27-22 win in the same fixture in 2017.
Welsh rugby is at a very low ebb and it’s difficult to see them improving on their wooden spoon finish of 2024. It will be a toss-up between themselves and Italy as to which of them will end the tournament at the bottom of the table but given the improvement in the Italian performances in last year’s tournament, it’s difficult to conceive of them not finishing above Wales. Welsh Rugby have committed to Warren Gatland for the 2025 Six Nations tournament but he is under enormous pressure to improve on last year’s showing.
Although predictions are something of a fool’s errand, I am tipping Ireland to retain their title possibly by way of a Grand Slam. France to finish second; England third, followed by Scotland and Italy with an under-powered and callow Wales taking last spot.
Ireland have had such a settled squad over the last few years that it’s not too difficult to predict the match-day 23 for the opening game on February 1st, injuries permitting.
IRELAND
Starting 15 :
15 Hugo Keenan
14 Mack Hansen
12 Robbie Henshaw
13 Garry Ringrose
11 James Lowe
10 Jack Crowley
9 Jamison Gibson Parke
8 Caelan Doris
7 Josh Van der Flier
6 Peter O Mahony
5 Joe McCarthy
4 James Ryan
3 Tadhg Furlong
2 Dan Sheehan
1 Andrew Porter
Replacements : 16 Ronán Kelleher, 17 Jack Boyle, 18 Findlay Bealham, 19 Ryan Baird, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Jimmy O Brien, 22 Craig Casey, 23 Sam Prendergast
Why Sam is one to Watch
A player that everyone has been talking about is Sam Prendergast who is improving at a rapid rate. An important part of Ireland’s under-20s grand-slam winning teams of 2022 and 2023, he has also become a regular starter for Leinster at out-half and earned three international caps during the 2024 Autumn Nations Series.
The Irish Times has compared Prendergast to Stephen Larkham due to his “tall, languid style and passing range”.
Some of his performances for Leinster have been almost Sexton-esque, like his two try and five conversion haul in the opening round of the 2024-25 Invertec Champions Cup as Leinster beat Bristol Bears 35-12 at Ashton Gate.
\If he remains injury-free he will no doubt feature prominently in Ireland’s 2025 Six Nations adventure. Indeed, given Crowley’s indifferent form of late and Prendergast’s player of the match performance in the recent derby fixture in Thomond Park, we may well see the young Leinster 10 starting in the opening round against England.
