Caelan Doris warns 'feel good factor' can be 'double-edged sword' for Ireland

On the eve of the match with Wales he insisted Ireland still has plenty of room to improve following its record 42-21 victory at Twickenham 13 days ago

ON THE SPOT: Captain Caelan Doris during a media conference after an Ireland Rugby captain's run at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Caelan Doris will not let his Ireland side drop their performance levels from the heights reached against England last time out when they face Wales in their penultimate 2026 Guinness Six Nations clash in Dublin on Friday night.

The captain has his eye on both this immediate next step and building towards next year’s World Cup in Australia. On the eve of the match he insisted Ireland still has plenty of room to improve following its record 42-21 victory at Twickenham 13 days ago. 

He outlined the areas needed to make it an even better performance on home soil against an improving side battling to end a 14-match losing run in the Six Nations stretching back to the 2023 championship.

As impressive as it was, Ireland have not been over celebrating their big win in south-west London and since returning to training they have been isolating what has to be put right from their showing against the English.

“We had 12 penalties, so discipline is one area,” Doris said on Thursday following a rain-sodden captain’s run at Aviva Stadium. “Scrum, obviously, a lot of those penalties came from the scrum. Our lineout maul, in particular, probably wasn’t as good as we would have liked it to be.

The Irish team huddle during a rain-soaked captain's run at the Aviva Stadium. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

“We absorbed quite a lot of pressure in the first 20 minutes which is a positive but we allowed them to play in our half, so a little bit of the kind of territorial battle. And then other than that there is always as individuals, like some of my tackle stuff, I want to improve tomorrow, so as individuals there’s always bits that you can chase as well.

“So lots of areas that we can get after.” Ireland’s No.8 said it was important to embrace the positive vibes within the squad following their Twickenham success but also recognised there was a potential downside.

“There is probably a little bit of a feelgood factor which can be a double-edged sword in a way. But lads have trained well, we’ve turned the page pretty well. Hopefully it can be a springboard for us without losing the awareness that there’s a ton of work to go in still.”

Addressing Welsh threats, Doris added: “Test matches always come down to the basics to be honest with you. Their set-piece is a big area of improvement. Their carriers, like Aaron Wainwright has beaten a ton of defenders over the last three games, the same with (Adam) Mann and (James) Botham too.

“From a back row’s perspective in particular, breakdown, carry, set-piece are big areas to get right.”