Ireland
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Ireland
Ireland 20-32 England
Scotland 13-22 Ireland
Ireland came into this years’ Six Nations as the favourites for
the title but, following a bruising encounter with England, now
find themselves playing catch up. They responded well a week
later with a gritty win in Scotland and will be determined to
push on from here.
One defeat is nothing to panic about for Ireland although the
manner of the loss will have caused Joe Schmidt plenty of
concern but it should not be forgotten that this is a side that
swept aside all challengers in 2018.
Their Grandslam victory, sealed with an emphatic victory over
England at Twickenham, was one to savour and the successful
tour to Australia also highlighted the fact that as well as having
a strong first XV the Irish have now developed significant
strength in depth.
Victory over New Zealand in the Autumn highlighted that
this team have a genuine chance of winning the World Cup
later this year and that is still the case so long as the side can
pick themselves up from the disappointing defeat in their first
game.
The Scotland game was not a great performance but grinding
out a victory in difficult circumstances is key if you are going to
be a great side. With Italy and France up next they now have a
chance to regroup and two bonus point victories may see them
in with a chance when they travel to Wales for the final game.
Speaking after the Scotland match, Joe Schmidt said, “We just
muscled our way through it. It wasn’t the prettiest game, we
got a peach of a set-piece try and we got a couple of broken-
field running tries. We restricted them to an intercept try, so
from that perspective, it was a massive defensive effort.”
“We weren’t spectacular and didn’t play particularly well.
Our lineout and scrum, those set-pieces were fundamental
for us.
“We’re lacking a tempo in a game. We’re not quite hitting
our rhythm, and our ball is being slowed. There’s a bit
of anxiety and we had to endure some tough
moments, and I’m really proud of the way the
players did.”
He went on to talk about the performance of
Joey Carbery who came on for Jonathan Sexton
early in the game, saying, “There were bits of
his game that he’ll look back at and he’ll be
going ‘I can do this a little bit better, I can
be a little bit more dominant here, I can give
us a bit more direction here’, but I thought
he made some super tackles, epitomised by
his final tackle in the game where he gave us
an opportunity to turn the ball over when we
really wanted it back. I thought he was brave
and accurate and I think he’ll grow as a result
of getting the opportunity.”
Regardless of the results in their remaining Six
Nations fixtures this team has shown more than
enough to be recognised as genuine contenders
for the World Cup later this year with Joe
Schmidt looking to sign off in style.