A HARSH CALL would be to say Ireland’s Six Nations tournament ended not so much with a bang as a whimper. There’s nothing hollow about these men. But there’s also no disguising that the back-to-back Six Nations champions tailed off as the competition reached its final two rounds of action. In the game against Scotland, the Irish – with their Grand Slam hopes gone up in the Twickenham smoke after a 23-22 loss to England – didn’t think about all the necessary points permutations which only those who have never been inside a changing room will understand.
The Six Nations title wasn’t something to be left to risk in the hands of 23 Englishmen in Lyon in the last game of the final match day. It was to be won in Dublin. A title off the back of a bonus-point loss would have been too bitter a pill for Andy Farrell’s team to swallow. No one would have been around the Aviva after 11pm to see the non-existent trophy lift. A consecutive loss as well? That really would be the stuff of TS Eliot’s Hollow Men.
DUBLIN DELIGHT
It was in Ireland’s hands and they got enough of a grip on it against Scotland not to let go. Who believed they could
