Ireland must dust it off and keep moving forward. What else can they do?

WHAT OF THE FUTURE? Ireland's Tadhg Furlong, Garry Ringrose and Jonathan Sexton, Luca Sexton, along with Dan Sheehan and James Lowe. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

The ending is the ending. It makes few allowances for context or feelings.

Andrew Porter watched the dying moments of Ireland’s latest World Cup campaign from behind a Société Générale advertising hoarding on the halfway line. 

He had played 76 minutes of this bruising and brutal Test match and now here he was crouched down on his knees, his eyeline so low it barely allowed him to witness those last acts.

His reaction when Sam Whitelock won the penalty on Ireland’s 38th play was instantaneous. 

He slumped to the floor, as if an off-switch had been flicked in the back of his head, and he sagged there motionless until some stadium workers rushed past to remove the billboard and get the next stage of their weekend up and running.

France and South Africa were due on site roughly 19 or 20 hours later. There was no time to lose. Ireland, through its team and its fans, had brought so much to this World Cup. They had laid claim to squatting rights at the Stade de France but the show was already going on, as it must, and it felt like they were barely being given time to pack their bags.

“I’ve lost a lot of big games in my career to this date but this is definitely the toughest one to take,” said Jack Conan. “To just have not done right by the effort that has been put in the last few years by the coaching staff, the players, and the travelling support… People have made the effort to come over here and it is incredible.

“It’s not lost on us, how much sacrifice people made to come and support us. Whether you were here or at home, it has meant the world to all of us and it’s something we spoke about a lot. We’re genuinely just gutted that we couldn’t do it for them and that we couldn’t do it for Johnny.”

Sexton’s retirement, and the inability to send him off with a more fitting prize, only aggravated the grief. 

There were emotive words spoken about the Ireland captain and about Keith Earls whose playing days ended injured and sitting in the stands on Saturday night but, though the paint isn’t dry on this game, thoughts on a new coat already abound.

Seventeen of Ireland’s panel are aged 30 or over. Conor Murray will be 38 in 2027, Peter O’Mahony 37. Another ten of those who played against the All Blacks at the weekend will be either 34 or 35. Some of those might make Australia in four years’ time, others won’t. This was not a young Irish squad. It was built for now.

Of the ten ‘top teams’ at this tournament – a list made up of the eight quarter-finalists, Scotland and Australia – Ireland had the second highest average age at 28.11. Only the Springboks pushed higher in that regard, and for the number of thirty-somethings with 19 of the latter padding out their ranks here in France.

The IRFU’s game management system is refined enough to think that some of those elder statesmen can at least put their hands up for selection next time around and there are enough of those in, or approaching, their early prime to suggest that there is a core playing at hand that will be even more baked into the pie then.

“There’s so much talent in the squad and so much belief,” said Conan. “Maybe in four years’ time we’ll push on and we’ll go all the way. I don’t know if I’ll be there at that stage but there’s just so much talent coming through and lads will push on to make their debuts and add value to Irish rugby.” 

But here again the value of Sexton can’t be overlooked.

James Ryan and others have spoken time and again about the influence he exerts on the training field and on the squad’s entire environment. If there was a Mount Rushmore of modern Irish players then Sexton would be up there already with Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara.

Someone will someday take that mantle and the wheel will have to keep turning until it does. As it did when Keith Wood retired after a quarter-final loss to France in 2003. And as it did when O’Connell bowed out with that horrible hamstring injury in 2015. The beauty of it is that we don’t yet know who it will be. If he is even playing professionally yet.

Dan Sheehan will be among the next drivers. He was the fourth youngest member of this squad, already has 20 caps and a tag as ‘world-class’ hooker to his name. On Saturday night, he fronted up after the biggest disappointment of his career and spoke with a maturity beyond his years.

“The way Irish rugby is set up at the moment is great. You lose big players like Johnny, who will be hard to replace, impossible to replace, but we have a lot of players coming through and it’s a young squad.

“A lot of the lads are still around, and we’re still a good team. One loss, I know it’s a big loss, it’ll take a while to dust off, but we’ll get back going. I think we’re still going in the right direction.” 

What other direction is there?