Mick Cleary: Five reasons to be cheerful ahead of another Six Nations weekend

Home Advantage – is it all it’s cracked up to be?

Head coach Andy Farrell during an Ireland Rugby squad training session at the IRFU High Performance Centre at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. Pic: Harry Murphy,Sportsfile

1. We've only just begun

Ireland have not won a Grand Slam. Or a tournament. Or their next match. You could be excused for heading to the Aviva on Sunday with a calculator in hand to count the chickens in the expectation that they will hatch favourably. But that is not the Andy Farrell way and the Andy Farrell down-to-earth, it ain’t over ‘til the dame appears to sing her song has stood Ireland in great stead. As we noted before, knockout rugby has its allure but tournament rugby has value too if only because the ride does not finish until the last whistle blows and the deed, for good or for bad, is done.