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Joe Schmidt’s Ireland squad should have everyone very worried – especially England, writes Lee Calvert.
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If a statistician was to do some form of analysis on Ireland’s 2016 the line of best fit for their form would start to trend upwards somewhere around the final game of Six Nations, when they cut loose vs Scotland, continue this trajectory through their close-fought June series in South Africa, then smash through the roof with that defeat of the All Blacks in Chicago in November.
Their 2017 could be even better. As they head into the Six Nations, the squad that beat New Zealand has been bolstered with some serious new talent.
For so long, Ireland’s fortunes were dependent – far too dependent some would say – on the form and presence of Jonny Sexton, whose only backups were the mansize fuzzy felt Ian Madigan, the horrific Ian Keatley or the toddler-faced unformed talent of Paddy Jackson. What 2016 clearly showed is that Jackson has now realised his potential: Ireland appear something close to the same team when he is the pivot as when Sexton is there. This is a heartening development as the Leinster ten once again has an injury niggle to sweat over.
Since Ireland’s historic victory over the All Blacks in Chicago the form of three of their provinces has been good-to-outstanding. The only spanner in the works being Ulster, who are playing like they’ve had their brains wiped by a freak radiation accident.
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Munster, who have bounced back incredibly from the shocking death of legend Anthony Foley, qualified for the European Champions Cup quarterfinals along with Leinster, while Connacht missed out by the narrowest of margins. Much of this achievement has been due to the form of the experienced Ireland internationals in their ranks.
Robbie Henshaw is playing brilliantly since his move to Leinster; CJ Stander is so good every week that they might as well give him the man of the match award while he’s taking his pre-match dump; Iain Henderson is single-handedly holding the Ulster pack together. Conor Murray and Sexton continue to be top drawer as do Peter O’Mahoney, Tadhg Furlong and any other you care to name. Even Rob Kearney looks back to decent form, something that early last year looked about as likely to happen as Donald Trump changing his hairstyle.
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Added to this has been the form and burgeoning class of the new generation. Ireland have been in a transitional period for so long that it was easy to imagine that they would never come out of it; that not finding players to replace the like of Brian O’Driscoll would be a permanent state of being. But on recent showing it appears the light at the end of the long transition tunnel is growing brighter. Garry Ringrose is oozing top-level class in the centre for Leinster alongside Henshaw and this is perfectly-timed given the injury to Schmidt midfield favourite Jared Payne. Young loose forward Jack Conan is a special talent, Ultan Dillane continues to look the real deal and young Munster wing Andrew Conway is a huge part of the province’s turnaround.
This all-round form, alloyed with having one of the best coaches in the business and home fixtures against both France and England means that despite England being odds-on, Ireland should really be the favourites to win the tournament. It will likely all come down to the last weekend when England roll up to Lansdowne Road. It promises to be some match.
IRELAND SQUAD
Forwards: Finlay Bealham (Connacht), Rory Best (Ulster), Jack Conan (Connacht), Ultan Dillane (Connacht), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster), Cian Healy (Leinster), Jamie Heaslip (Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Billy Holland (Munster), Dave Kilcoyne (Munster), Dan Leavy (Leinster), Jack McGrath (Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Leinster), Tommy O’Donnell (Munster), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Donnacha Ryan (Munster), John Ryan (Munster), Niall Scannell (Munster), CJ Stander (Munster), Devin Toner (Leinster), James Tracy (Leinster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster).
Backs: Tommy Bowe (Ulster), Andrew Conway (Munster), Keith Earls (Munster), Craig Gilroy (Ulster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Paddy Jackson (Ulster), Rob Kearney (Leinster), Kieran Marmion (Connacht), Luke Marshall (Ulster), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Luke McGrath (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Tiernan O’Halloran (Connacht), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Rory Scannell (Munster), Jonathan Sexton (Leinster), Andrew Trimble (Ulster), Simon Zebo (Munster)
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Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
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