Ireland would have been disappointed with their start to last year’s Six Nations. Narrowly beaten by both Wales in Cardiff and France in Dublin, the boys in green’s tournament was all but over within the first couple of gameweeks. However, the Irish didn’t let their heads drop as they fought valiantly to win their remaining three games and salvage a respectable third-place finish, but there was still no sign of any real improvement under the reign of Andy Farrell.
After a fantastic set of results during the Autumn internationals last November though, when Ireland impressively beat Japan, New Zealand and Argentina at the Aviva Stadium, expectations were high ahead of this year’s renewal of the tournament. Still behind France and England in the outright 2022 Six Nations odds prior to the first round of fixtures, Ireland got off to the perfect start with a bonus point victory (29-7) over Wayne Pivac’s defending champions at the Aviva Stadium.
With England falling victim to a plucky, resilient Scotland side for a second year in a row, losing 20-17 to their bitter rivals as Gregor Townsend’s men retained the sought-after Calcutta Cup at Murrayfield, Ireland have since moved into second favourites and it looks set to be a two-horse race for the title between them and France — with the general consensus, of course, that Scotland won’t have the consistency to keep them in the battle.
France themselves had to overcome a slight scare against the Six Nations’ usual whipping boys Italy, as Kieran Crowley’s underdogs twice took the lead at the Stade de France in the opening 30 minutes before Les Bleus eventually got a foothold in the game and ran away with a 37-10 win in Paris thanks to a rare hat-trick from Gabin Villière — France’s first three-try scorer in 14 years — as a winning bonus point also ensured they stayed neck-and-neck with Ireland.
Interestingly, Fabien Galthié’s men host Farrell’s side in the French capital this weekend and if Ireland can come out on top in Paris, they would surely have the backing to go on and win the Six Nations for the first time since their Grand Slam success in 2018 with the Paddy Power rugby tips. That is obviously easier said than done though, as Ireland haven’t beaten France in the tournament in their last two attempts — losing 35-27 at the Stade de France in 2020 before being edged 15-13 behind closed doors at the Aviva last year.
But they will certainly board the plane full of confidence. Their victory over Wales means Ireland are now on a run of nine successive wins, a streak that has helped them leapfrog England into third in the rugby world rankings, and Farrell will definitely have his men watching that Italy game back to help them work out how to break down the French, while also coming up with a plan to stop the likes of Villière.
If Ireland play how we know they can, they have every chance of beating France this weekend. After that, the Irish have what looks set to be a guaranteed bonus point win over Italy in Dublin in round three, which would set them up perfectly for the remaining two games against England at Twickenham and Scotland at the Aviva. It is worth nothing that Eddie Jones’ men are by no means out of the running, they play Italy and Wales next and could host Ireland in round 4 with it all still to play.
It goes without saying that there is still a long way to go in this year’s Six Nations and anything could happen over the course of the next five games. However, if Ireland are to beat France this weekend, then many would deem that it is their tournament to lose and Farrell’s men certainly won’t want to slip up!