Cardiff all that counts in the here and now for Simon Easterby’s Ireland

Ireland face a trip to Wales to take on the tournament's weakest side this weekend. 

WHAT'S OCCURIN': Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby, left, and Leinster chief operations officer Guy Easterby during the United Rugby Championship match between Ospreys and Leinste. Pic: Chris Fairweather/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell has left the building, for now, but his influence and his words still linger as this Ireland team carries on regardless under Simon Easterby and towards the prospect of a third successive Six Nations title.

The main change under the ‘new’ boss has been a noticeable uptick in the team’s performances after a November Test window that, despite three wins from four, was a disappointment from the moment New Zealand eased to a win against underwhelming hosts on the first day.

There was no place for another false start when England arrived in Dublin at the start of February, and Ireland now approach this weekend’s round three game in Cardiff with maximum points and in pole position for another Grand Slam.

Move this scenario back a handful of years and there would be no talk of rotation. Wales in the Principality Stadium would have been seen then as a hurdle equal in height to any other in the tournament. That was then, it’s different now.

Warren Gatland’s premature exit last week highlighted again the depths to which the Welsh stock has dropped. Lose to Ireland and it will be their 15th defeat on the spin, their last win coming in late 2023 in the Rugby World Cup.

Here, then, appears to be an opportunity to kill two birds with the one stone: claim another bonus-point win and, at the same time, expose some of the less experienced players on the Ireland side to the vagaries of a Six Nations tie on the road.

Wales, to be blunt about it, are the new Italy. They are unquestionably the weakest link in this six-team chain and Ireland made half-a-dozen changes in each of the previous three seasons when facing the Azzurri come the spring.

So, same again?

Farrell spoke before last year’s 36-0 win against the Italians in Dublin about the balance that needs to be struck at these times: about the need to give players the chance to build on earlier work while keeping open the competition for places.

“Like I always say, selection, it takes all sorts… All sorts of different permutations go through your mind,” he explained. “When you lose a couple of leaders, do you replace them with a leader or someone that deserves a chance?” Easterby will get to answer that question in a very literal sense this week given his captain Caelan Doris is expected to sit this one out with injury, but does anyone serious expect that anyone other than Jack Conan, a three-Test starting British and Irish Lion, will slot in?

Look elsewhere and if Easterby is tempted to shuffle his hand then it’s most likely that the fit-again pairing of Mack Hansen and Joe McCarthy will get the nod. And Dan Sheehan is surely due a start now after two bench roles on his return from an ACL absence.

Midfield, where rotation of three world-class centres in Bundee Aki, Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, has been the name of the game, will likely extend into the third outing and we may see Jack Crowley ushered in for Sam Prendergast at ten.

That’s five alterations before anyone starts to make representations for players sitting further out on the wider fringes of the squad, and without looking at the wider context of a game sitting square in the middle of two rest weeks either side.

A full month separates the round two win in Murrayfield and the round four visit to Dublin of France. That’s too long a gap to contemplate for too many key players who are fit and ready to go this weekend and before any other injury concerns that might materialise.

Rugby being the game it is, wear and tear will always open doors. Ireland used 32 players in achieving the Grand Slam in 2023, and 31 in backing that up with a Championship title 11 months ago.

The average age of the 23-man squad that accounted for Scotland two weekends ago was touching 30 years of age. That’s old by general standards, and something to be wary of, but evolution continues even as the thirtysomethings start to stack up.

Sam Prendergast, Joe McCarthy and Calvin Nash played no part in the 2023 title campaign. The likes of Jack Boyle, Tom Clarkson, Cormac Izuchukwu, Gus McCarthy and Jamie Osborne are all making inroads in the senior camp since then too.

Widen the lens on this and there will be ample scope to experiment this summer when an Ireland side devoid of what will be a major Lions contingent will face Georgia and Portugal, and there is an ‘A’ game against England in Bristol this Sunday as well.

History is in the hands of this Ireland team in the here and now.

No-one has ever racked up a hat-trick of titles outright in the history of the Five or Six Nations and it says everything about the heightened appetite and expectations here that no-one is even bothered with the idea that another Triple Crown should be secured in Cardiff.

If France at the Aviva Stadium on March 8th is likely to be the most critical determining factor in all this, then the Championship could yet come down to points difference and Ireland’s isn’t what it might be after those wins against England and Scotland.

Future proofing isn’t just a case of new bodies for days to come. Bring ruthless in the Welsh capital counts too. Easterby’s Ireland could do with keeping the scoreboard rolling over this Saturday. Any other considerations will just have to wait for now.