Ireland will be looking to win their first Six Nations tournament since 2018 when they swept the competition for a Grand Slam. Despite dominating that tournament, the Irish have not lived up to their potential despite a plethora of great talent. However, with this being a new cycle, head coach Andy Farrell has a chance to show that the Irish are ready to be that strong force out of Europe. With that being said, let's preview this tournament for Ireland.
How Will They Do Against Stronger Competition?
In 2018, Ireland took advantage of an inconsistent England side, a young and inexperienced France squad, and a very weak Italy team. While Wales hasn't played particularly well since their dominating 2019 Six Nations Grand Slam campaign, they're still a threat, but the other four nations have gotten better. Yes, even Italy has even though they are still not likely to beat Ireland. Scotland has a wealth of talent despite inconsistencies and could make things interesting for the Irish. France has a young corp that is very talented and is a strong contender to win the entire tournament. England is incredibly strong and talented, plus their head coach Eddie Jones is a masterful tactician. So if Ireland can compete with those sides, then this will be a great tournament despite the difficulties surrounding them.
How Much Does Jonathan Sexton Have Left In The Tank?
Sexton may or may not be the greatest fly half Ireland has ever seen (seriously, he might be better than Ronan O'Gara), but everyone ages and lose their once great talent. Sexton is 35 and will be 36 in June, so he clearly is on his last spurt of greatness. That being said, Farrell and Ireland will have to milk every last ounce of rugby ability as they can as he may be in the last year or two of leading his nation to Six Nations glory. There's a lot of talent behind him like Joey Carbery, Jack Carty, and Ross Byrne, but just as long as he's the best option at the 10 jersey, Sexton will help lead his nation. He's still a brilliant kicker and manages a game well, but even those skill sets will diminish with age. We may be seeing greatness come to an end unfortunately, but unless he deteriorates suddenly, Sexton will be the squad's leader and is the main man at flyhalf and hopefully he can help lead Ireland to the trophy.
Fixing The Lineout
The last few years the lineout has been an issue for the Irish. Part of it might've been because Rory Best was aging and his skills were diminishing, plus Devin Toner dealt with injuries, but something has to be done about the lineout. It's unclear what the future will be for the second row pairing, but there's plenty of great players to choose from like James Ryan, Tadhg Beirne, Quinn Roux, Ultan Dillane, and Iain Henderson. Getting the right pairing will be key, but Ireland needs to fix their lineout issues when they can.
How Will New Faces And Young Blood Do?
Every new cycle nation's find more players to add to their pool and this isn't any different. Ireland is in the midst of a golden generation of talent, but can they add on to it? Some new faces who qualify for Ireland due to visa rules will have a chance to show what they can do like New Zealand born James Lowe and Jamison Gibson-Park who should give the squad some more dynamism and quality depth, but the hope is they could lead Ireland to glory. Then there's the younger players like Tom O'Toole, Hugo Keenan, Shane Daly, and Ronan Kelleher as they all provide some incredible skills and talent that will make Ireland better and deeper. The question will be how will their inexperience be a factor in this tournament be. Even with having to fill the void of winger Jacob Stockdale who is out with injury problems or with being cover for Tadhg Furlong who is coming back from an injury, their contributions are vital.
Can Ireland Build Momentum From The Autumn Nations Cup?
While Ireland finished in third place in a very strange set up of the tournament, Farrell and his squad had a good showing. Some will criticize the squad's "poor" performance against Georgia, but Ireland didn't field their strongest possible side in a 13 point win. They then finished the tournament with a convincing 31-16 victory over Scotland to finish in third, so the three victories out of the Autumn Nation's Cup should be a nice change of pace of how they were playing since 2019. If they can build upon that momentum, then good things will come in this tournament.
Is This Andy Farrell's Last Chance?
It's unfair to really judge Farrell's performance as head coach after what happened in 2020, but there's been plenty of questions. While 2018 was great for Irish rugby under then head coach Joe Schmidt, some felt like the squad peaked too early before the 2019 Six Nations and World Cup. When Farrell took over, fans were excited for what a new coach could bring, but the same struggles persisted. Then the pandemic hit and it threw everything off including anything Farrell could build upon in 2020. While despite all the unfortunate circumstances, Farrell has been less than inspiring with the squad's performances. Yes, Ireland is a Tier One rugby side where fans expect the best out of their squad, so there might be some unfair criticism, but being only three years out with most of the same core from that Grand Slam campaign and with some young and exciting talent coming through the ranks, that success should be expected. Maybe there are factors that aren't being taken into account, but some aren't happy with the results under Farrell's tenure. With that in mind, is this his last chance? We shall see.
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