Ireland are two wins away from unprecedented back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slams but what pleases head coach Andy Farrell most is that when they appear vulnerable they “find a way” to get back on top.
Up next on Saturday week is an England side chastened by their Grand Slam hopes disappearing at the hands of Scotland, who the Irish host in their final match.
Ireland have largely dominated their opponents so far — three bonus-point wins over France (38-17), Italy (36-0) and Wales (31-7) — but on Saturday they wobbled briefly against the Welsh.
The Irish should have had a far greater lead than 17-0 at half-time but for steely Welsh defence and sloppy play.
When shortly after the start of the second half it became 17-7, from a penalty try, and the Irish went down to 14 men with Tadhg Beirne sin-binned, an upset could have been on the cards.
However, the Irish held out and by the time Beirne returned and Farrell sent on several replacements the tide turned back in their favour.
This augurs well for Twickenham as England bid to bounce back and end Ireland’s hopes of making Six Nations history.
“We do find a way of getting out of trouble and don’t try and complicate it too much,” said Farrell.
“We’ve come across all those bits before and how we react to them is all part of the process. But again, that was the most pleasing part of the game because we found a way to get the job done.”
Farrell — who will sit out next year’s Six Nations due to his being head coach of the British and Irish Lions for their tour of Australia — was especially encouraged at how his players defended their line.
Veteran Irish prop Cian Healy forcing a turnover on his tryline in the dying minutes led ultimately to Beirne scoring at the other end to secure the Irish the bonus point.
“It’s the fight after that (the penalty try) to keep them out when the game’s won and to have that fight to keep them out is unbelievably pleasing,” said Farrell.
“One, turn them over in the maul first and then to defend your own line for five minutes like that and have the energy and fight to turn it around and get the bonus point, it marries up well.”
‘Earned the right’
Although Farrell purrs over the defence — “it is top drawer” — in offence too they have been in irresistible form scoring 15 tries in their three victories so far.
However, lying in wait is an English defence now in the hands of former Ireland international Felix Jones, who was responsible for the Springboks defence in their 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup triumphs.
The Irish, though, got the better of Jones in their pool match at last year’s World Cup — the only side to beat the Springboks in the tournament.
“Yeah, it’s something we know it’s the South African defence and I know that Felix will constantly try and put his stamp on implementing that,” said Farrell.
“There’s always going to be teething problems at the start but they’ll go harder, there’s no doubt about that because that’s their philosophy.”
One player who may give Jones and his blitz defence a headache or two is backrow forward Ryan Baird, whose electric bursts when he came on against Wales helped restore Ireland’s momentum.
“What goes through my head is that he’s (Baird) taking off and I know for a fact that he doesn’t know what he’s doing either,” said Farrell.
“He’s brilliant to watch though, isn’t he? And to do that….he got the ball back again straight away within five seconds and went back through again.”
Farrell says going to Twickenham — which was home for him at one point first as an England player and then as assistant coach to Stuart Lancaster — is “a difficult task.”
However, the 48-year-old Englishman goes there excited the Wales win keeps then on course for the Slam.
“It sets it up nicely because we’ve earned the right to get to that point.”
