Ireland’s rebooted squad now within touching distance of a Triple Crown
Sam Prendergast during Ireland's captain's run. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady
Andy Farrell does not define the success of his team by individual results alone, preferring the development of his players and the experiences they gain along the road as his barometer. Yet the Ireland head coach must realise a victory over Scotland and the Guinness Six Nations Triple Crown that comes with that in Dublin on Saturday would represent a significant milestone for a group of players that has grown throughout the 2026 championship.
From the ashes of a 36-14 defeat to France in Paris on the opening night back on February 5, Ireland have flipped the narrative that swirled around that loss from an ageing team in terminal decline to a rebooted squad on the rise that now has a shot at silverware. There may have been just one genuine convincing performance, the powerhouse beating of England at Twickenham, yet here they are in touching distance of tangible success.
It would need the unlikely scenario of a demoralised and rudderless England turning the tables on the French at Stade de France in the final game of this Six Nations Super Saturday for Ireland to stage a smash and grab and regain the title they last held in 2024. Although given the way this championship started, simply beating Scotland and taking securing the Triple Crown would be a significant achievement which Ireland’s captain was not about to underplay when he spoke to media on Friday.
“I think it would be a big stepping stone on this team's journey, this team's path,” Caelan Doris said following Ireland’s captain’s run training session at Aviva Stadium.
“I think there's been some good progression through the tournament and there's a good feeling in camp at the minute. So I think it would further the belief definitely and it would be something to reflect on and look back on with positive feelings.”
The previous day, Doris’s boss was expressing his satisfaction with the progress already made during a campaign negotiated without a raft of senior players due to injury and one in which he has delved deep into his playing stocks. The inclusion of lock Darragh Murray for a Six Nations debut and veteran centre Bundee Aki among Ireland’s replacements brings the number of players used in this campaign to a record high, for Farrell, of 35. The head coach has been rewarded by the increased depth of his options across multiple positions. Saturday’s finale presents another opportunity to broaden his squad’s experience in a chase for a trophy.
“What a story for a good handful of these lads to be in this type of situation,” Farrell said. “We probably wouldn’t have thought, or they might not have thought they’d be in this type of situation.
“So it’s been fantastic that, along with all the experienced lads, and we’ve got a good few within our team who’s been there in this cup final type of week and won a few trophies along the way. But to add to that with the experience for these lads, that’s going to be fantastic down the line anyway.
“We always say with this type of situation where there’s a trophy on the line, it’s fantastic for us that we put ourselves in that type of situation and see if we can perform when it matters.”
The performance against England has been the high point of Ireland’s campaign and indeed the past two seasons since Farrell’s team beat world champions South Africa in Durban in the summer of 2024. Now the Irish are out to prove their record win in south-west London was not a one-hit wonder but a starting point to build towards the next World Cup in 18 months.
Scottish head coach Gregor Townsend has never beaten Ireland during his tenure and Scotland have not won in Dublin since 2010 at Croke Park, which means the Aviva has been a graveyard for their ambitions. Yet for once the confidence and self-belief seems warranted and they appear the best equipped and prepared squad to translate that into a long-awaited victory.
As miserable as his team’s record is in having not beaten the Irish in 11 matches under his watch, and Scotland’s lack of silverware since their 1999 Five Nations title, and another nine years since their most Triple Crown, Townsend has not reached the final round of a championship in such fine form and with momentum behind them.
Like Ireland, they have rebounded strongly from an opening-round defeat to Italy in Rome, playing dazzling rugby to dispatch England and France on home soil, either side of a gutsy, come from behind, 26-23 win against Wales, whom they trailed 20-5 after 48 minutes in Cardiff.
Farrell understands that and has, he said on Thursday, always believed in Scotland’s potential to do damage, a point underlined by his selection of eight Scots in his British & Irish Lions squad which faced Australia last summer, while adding another four for the final midweek tour game in Melbourne.
“As far as Scotland’s concerned, the genuine respect that we have every single year,” he said. “We say it the whole time, they’re a fantastic squad and fantastic team and given any type of room to be able to play the game that they want to play, they’ll beat anyone in the world on their day, as they’ve proved.
“So that’s how we approach every single game and this one’s no different.” Farrell needs his team to channel the tornado they summoned at Twickenham three weeks ago to blow England away inside 30 minutes with 22 unanswered points.
“I mean we had the ambition to try and break the game up,” the head coach said of that memorable afternoon. “For me, that’s what the games are there to be had. You’ve got to attack them, we certainly did that in that game. But this is a different one, we have to have the same type of mentality.”
Jamie Osborne (Leinster); Rob Baloucoune (Ulster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Tommy O’Brien (Leinster); Jack Crowley (Munster), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster); Joe McCarthy (Leinster), Tadhg Beirne (Munster); Jack Conan (Leinster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster) - captain.
Ronan Kelleher (Leinster), Michael Milne (Munster), Finlay Bealham (Connacht), Darragh Murray (Connacht), Nick Timoney (Ulster), Craig Casey (Munster), Ciaran Frawley (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht).
Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse); Darcy Graham (Edinburgh), Huw Jones (Glasgow), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors) – captain, Kyle Steyn (Glasgow); Finn Russell (Bath), Ben White (Toulon); Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh), George Turner (Harlequins), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) Max Williamson (Glasgow), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh); M Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), R Darge (Glasgow), J Dempsey (Glasgow).
E Ashman (Edinburgh), R Sutherland (Glasgow), D Rae (Edinburgh), A Craig (Glasgow), M Bradbury (Edinburgh), G Horne (Glasgow), K Rowe (Glasgow), T Jordan (Bristol).
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
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