ireland
six nations
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Ireland
Six Nations
A
s the smoke cleared on a thrilling final day to
this year’s RBS Six Nations, it was Ireland who
emerged to claim the famous trophy. The team
enjoyed the celebrations after being crowned Champions
and can now reflect on a job well done.
With one of the closest tournaments in recent years
everything came down to the final day and a resounding
victory over Scotland for Ireland proved to be enough despite
the best efforts of England and Wales. The side had taken some
criticism earlier in the campaign for not being attack minded
enough but proved that when they needed to they had the
ability to open a game up.
The victory over Scotland followed a comfortable win over
Italy, professional performances against France and England
and a narrow defeat against Italy.
The standout feature of Ireland’s
performances as a team was their
game management which was
considerably stronger than the other
team’s competing and turned out to
be the deciding factor.
Perhaps their best performance was
against the English, when backed
by a typically vociferous home
crowd their physicality around the
break down allowed them to take
a comfortable victory in what had
been billed as a tournament decider.
There were a number of fine
individual performances from Irish
players and a major highlight was the
quality shown by Robbie Henshaw
who outlined his potential with a
series of mature displays.
Captain Paul O’Connell was as
terrific as the rugby world has come
to expect and this was highlighted
by the fact that he was awarded the
RBS Player of the Tournament. He
made his 101st appearance during
the tournament and commented,
"I'm delighted to receive the RBS
Player of the Championship Trophy.
When you see the names that have
gone before, you realise what a great
honour it is. I'm very grateful for all
the supporters who voted for me".
Having now secured the trophy
Ireland will be turning their
attentions towards preparing for
the World Cup and their triumph
here should provide them with a
strong platform from which to build.
Despite the narrow margin of victory
here there can be little argument
that they are the best side in Europe,
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however, if they want to challenge Southern Hemisphere
heavyweights New Zealand and South Africa they will need
to improve.
Winning the RBS Six Nations was impressive but with the
talent available to Ireland they should have been looking to
complete a Grandslam. This would have been a real statement
of intent and there is a feeling that this was an opportunity
missed in that sense.
Still though, they head into the World Cup with one of the best
sides they’ve ever had and are in with a great chance of making
a major impact. They are blessed with experience in key
positions and anybody looking to beat the Irish in September
will have to be at their best to do so. It will be certain that they
have plenty of vocal support behind them all the way.