Six Nations review: How successful was Ireland's tournament and what must change?

TADHG’S TIME: Ireland’s Tadhg Furlong celebrates a scrum penalty during the Guinness Six Nations match against England at Aviva Stadium. Picture: Ramsey Cardy

Not for the first time in Six Nations history, Ireland have once again put in a perception-altering performance to warm the hearts of supporters and the lift pressure on an under-fire head coach.

Well, for now at least.

The hope is that Andy Farrell’s side will kick on from this 32-18 win that was more comprehensive than the scoreline suggests and move forward with confidence so that a developing squad and new-look team will get to the next World Cup at France 2023 in a position to deliver a first semi-final appearance.

It was far from perfect, of course, the concession of 12 penalties, a red card and a late yellow ensured that, but as an end-point to a championship that began so slowly and poorly, the win against England represents all that head coach Farrell, his players, and Ireland supporters could have dared to dream of.

One is only left to wonder what might have been had that start to the campaign not been so calamitous.

Captain Johnny Sexton spoke pre-match of a Six Nations that got away from Ireland with back-to-back opening defeats, both self-inflicted albeit for different reasons.

How the championship unfolded

Round One — February 7: Wales 21 Ireland 16, Cardiff 

A 14th-minute red card for Peter O’Mahony undid any hopes of the Irish rolling out their new-look approach of heads-up, risk and reward rugby. There had been glimpses of an exciting and evolving attack to that point, but they were shut down the moment O’Mahony made contact with the head of Tomas Francis in a dangerous ruck clear-out. 

Ireland still played well enough with a man down to make the outcome a cliffhanger, only for Billy Burns to misjudge a penalty kick to the corner at the death when his team needed a close-range lineout platform to snatch victory.

Round Two — February 14: Ireland 13 France 15, Dublin

That Wales, unfancied and in disarray after a terrible 2020 under next coach Wayne Pivac rather Ireland went into the final weekend chasing a Grand Slam tells you all you need to know about the fickle nature of sport, but Farrell’s men only had themselves to blame in round two when title favourites France came to Dublin and comfortably dealt with what little a one-dimensional Ireland had to throw at them.

Round Three — February 27: Italy 10 Ireland 48, Rome

The misery of a round-two no-show at home filled Ireland’s airwaves with frustration and a little fury at the paucity of Irish creativity following the national team’s worst start to a Six Nations. Back-to-back defeats had not marked the opening of a championship since the 1998 Five Nations and the lightning rod of critical dissatisfaction fell on Farrell and his attack coach Mike Catt. 

That Italy were up next was a relief given the inexperience of Franco Smith’s squad, their seriously worrying defensive weaknesses and a losing Six Nations record dating back to 2015. Ireland duly took full advantage, running in six tries and scoring with impressive variety, the running scores featuring offloads and invention, smart lines and ruthless finishing. As a turning point it was encouraging, now Ireland had to show they could do it against stiffer opposition.

Round Four — March 14: Scotland 24 Ireland 27, Edinburgh

Scotland at Murrayfield was that very challenge having laid down their marker with an opening-round win over England, their first win at Twickenham since 1983. To their credit Ireland met it full on, started brightly to take an 8-0 lead through a Sexton penalty and Robbie Henshaw try and were 14-10 up at half-time. 

The third quarter was more impressive than the first as Ireland opened a 21-10 lead with Tadhg Beirne’s converted try but their inability to kick on and seal the deal from there was concerning as the Scots fought back to 24-24, exploiting defensive errors from the visitors and it needed a super penalty kick from captain Sexton to get the job done.

Round Five — March 20: Ireland 32 England 18, Dublin

That England’s success over France the day before Murrayfield had been so pulsating a contest only highlighted Ireland’s shortcomings, even in victory and the 2020 champions came to Dublin with confidence restored and talk of a return to the form that demolished the All Blacks in the 2019 World Cup semi-final.

Against a side they had beaten four times in a row, that did not bode well for the under-pressure Irish.

So their victory was significant, not only in terms of ending that losing streak against Eddie Jones’s men but in silencing a rising cacophony of criticism about past performances in this Six Nations and doubts that the right mix could be found between management and players to restore Ireland to the heights they enjoyed under Joe Schmidt.

So how successful was this 2021 Six Nations?

Current Grade: B-

Three wins in a row concluding with a defeat of their oldest Test rivals makes for a fair return after such a poor start; although Ireland’s finishing position will not be determined until Friday night when France host Scotland in Paris in their rearranged round-three game.

Reasons for optimism

Plenty given that stirring performance and victory at the weekend, the best of the Farrell era, and with the finest tries to match from Keith Earls, a training-ground move perfectly executed off a lineout, and Jack Conan, a well-crafted team score that started with a Tadhg Furlong linebreak and offload.

Add in the set-piece solidity honed by scrum coach John Fogarty and new forwards coach Paul O’Connell’s lineout acumen, more defensive clarity under a singularly focused coach in Simon Easterby and the fruition of player-driven leadership and there is every hope that the win over England can be a benchmark for future performances.

Farrell also deserves credit for strengthening the depth of his squad, handing debuts off the bench against Italy to Ryan Baird and Craig Casey while giving more game time to impressive young talents such as Will Connors.

His back-row options are now multiple, despite the surprise retirement of the ever-dependable CJ Stander and Jack Conan’s performance against England marked something of a passing of the baton.

Add in exciting talent to come back in such as Caelan Doris and Joey Carbery and there could be a bright future for Ireland.

Chief concern and can they fix it?

In backing up the show they put on against Italy with wins over Scotland and England, Ireland have shown they can play with the courage of their convictions.

Yet the poor discipline which undermined their opening game against Wales resurfaced in round five and having not seen a sending off in the history of the championship, Ireland have had two in one campaign, Bundee Aki’s red card for making contact with the head of Billy Vunipola making him the first Irish player to be sent off twice for his country after a similar offence at the 2019 World Cup.

That his team had the game won already was a blessing for 12 penalties conceded is a not a statistic conducive to ongoing success.

The ongoing good form of Johnny Sexton is both a blessing and a curse for Ireland still do not have a fly-half to replace the 35-year-old, who has now played the full 80 minutes for three games in a row in his 97th, 98th and 99th appearances.

Carbery’s return to fitness with Munster will be watched carefully by Farrell.

Ireland by the numbers

• Players used: 32.
• Starters: 27.
• Test debuts: R Baird, C Casey.
• 6N debuts: B Burns, J Lowe.
• Most minutes: H Keenan 400, CJ Stander 383, R Henshaw 380, T Beirne 377.
• Tries: T Beirne 2, K Earls 2, W Connors 2, Six Players 1 each.
• Carries: CJ Stander 72 (6N leader), R Henshaw 63, T Beirne 50, H Keenan 47.
• Metres made: J Lowe 433 (2nd in 6N), H Keenan 364, G Ringrose 358, CJ Stander 346.
• Turnovers won: T Beirne 10 (6N leader), I Henderson 6, CJ Stander 5, J Ryan 3.