Ireland have not won successive Five or RBS 6 Nations titles since Jim McCarthy went over for the only try of the match against Wales at Swansea on March 12, 1949, writes Peter Jackson.
Cork’s famous wing forward who has long since become a revered figure in rugby folklore across the length and breadth of Ireland will be 89 in the New Year, hoping to see history repeat itself during the 2015 RBS 6 Nations. His try against Wales clinched a second successive championship and Triple Crown for Ireland as a thrilling sequel to their Grand Slam achievement the previous season. Now they are in a position to win back-to-back titles for the first time in the seven decades since. Their victories over South Africa, for the fourth time in six matches, and Australia, for the third time in seven attempts, amount to a mighty declaration of intent from the defending champions. The All Blacks will have seen the signal shining through the smoke of another historic battle in Dublin and taken due note of Ireland’s emergence as serious contenders for the World Cup. Over the last three weeks, Ireland and Ireland alone have achieved the rare distinction of beating two of the Southern Hemisphere’s Big Three. As RBS 6 Nations champions, they will start the defence of their title against Italy in Rome on February 7. They return to Dublin for successive home matches against France and England before taking on Wales in Cardiff and finishing up against Scotland at Murrayfield. Since clinching the trophy in Paris last March, the holders have raised their game to a level now reflected in their rise to No. 3 in the global rankings. The first back-to-back Irish wins over the Springboks and Wallabies since 2006 consolidates their occupation of territory long held by the SANZAR countries. There can be no denying their position as Europe’s top team. Over the November series only Ireland matched New Zealand win for win and try for try, thrilling evidence of their rising power under Joe Schmidt’s strategic direction and Paul O’Connell’s unyielding on-field command. Their next challenge will be to negotiate their way through the hazards of the world’s oldest and best-loved annual international tournament. Getting to the top is one thing, staying there another matter entirely. Only three teams have managed a successful title defence since the Five became Six at the turn of the century. England won it in 2000 and 2001 with a team which would go on to win the World Cup in 2003. France emulated the English achievement in 2006 and 2007 and Wales did likewise in 2012 and 2013. Now that they are officially the third best team in the world, Ireland know they will have to cope with a soaring public expectation. O’Connell’s reaction to the Wallaby victory was typical of a man whose feet only leave the ground in the line-out. He spoke of the errors made against Australia and since nobody has yet managed the perfect game, errors, however few, will always happen. ‘Definitely in that middle 20 minutes of the first half we were poor so there are a number of areas we can improve on,’ he said. ‘If we can do that, who knows what can happen?’ As the Irish players return to Pro 12 duty, Wales have one last shot at taking a Southern Hemisphere scalp, against the Springboks at the Millenniums Stadium on Saturday. The devastating nature of the last ten minutes against New Zealand there last week means they still haven’t been the All Blacks since 1953. The vast majority of the 74,000 at Cardiff dared to believe they were witnessing history in the making when Leigh Halfpenny’s third penalty put his team ahead for the third time at 16-15 after 67 minutes. Three All Black tries in a seven-minute spell crushed Welsh hopes in a finale ruthless even by New Zealand standards. And all that in spite of Dan Carter finding himself redeployed in the role of water boy on an evening when Beauden Barrett justified his selection at fly half with some match-winning magic. Rarely can there have been a weekend featuring so many high-class performances from so many No. 10’s. Ireland’s immaculate Jonny Sexton and his Wallaby opposite number Bernard Foley set the standard in Dublin. George Ford rose magnificently to the occasion on his first start for England in their 28-9 win over Samoa. Greig Laidlaw led Scotland to another five-try win under new coach Vern Cotter, this time over Tonga on a ground-breaking occasion at Rugby Park, home of Kilmarnock FC. Dan Biggar reaffirmed his position as Wales’ No. 1, helping his team reach a level of intensity which, for more than an hour, hounded the All Blacks into a series of uncharacteristic handling errors. And to round off the cavalcade of star fly halves, Argentina’s Nicolas Sanchez dropped a hat-trick of goals in the Pumas’ excellent 18-13 win over France in Paris. Wales, with the electrifying Liam Williams back on one wing in place of an injured Geore North, will not have to worry about Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield’s formidable side-kick in the second row who has retired at the age of 35 after 85 Tests. While Wales attempt to end a run of 16 straight defeats at the hands of the Boks, England and Australia go head-to-head at Twickenham – England’s chance of a winning finish against opponents who out-scored Ireland 3-2 on tries but still fell three points short, as they had done in Paris seven days earlier. The fact that the next England-Australia meeting will take place in Pool A of the World Cup at Twickenham on October 3 next year gives this one added significance. The November series – how they stand: Played Won Drawn Lost Tries New Zealand 3 3 0 0 10-4 Ireland 3 3 0 0 10-6 Scotland 3 2 0 1 11-5 France 3 2 0 1 8-4 South Africa 3 2 0 1 8-5 Argentina 3 2 0 1 5-7 England 3 1 0 2 8-6 Australia 3 1 0 2 8-8 Wales 3 1 0 2 8-9 Italy 3 1 0 2 2-6 Fiji 3 1 0 2 5-10 Samoa 3 1 0 2 3-5 Best XV from last weekend? 15 Rob Kearney (Ireland) 14 Tommy Bowe (Ireland) 13 Conrad Smith (New Zealand) 12 Joe Toomua (Australia) 11 Jonny May (England) 10 Jonny Sexton (Ireland) 9 Nick Phipps (Australia) 1 Marcos Ayerza (Argentina) 2 Augustin Creevy (Argentina) 3 Mike Ross (Ireland) 4 Brodie Retallick (New Zealand) 5 Paul O’Connell (Ireland) 6 Peter O’Mahony (Ireland) 7 Blair Cowan (Scotland) 8 Kieran Read (New Zealand).
