ALL IRISH EYES now turn towards Paris.
Les Bleus begin their championship at Stade de France tomorrow with the visit of Italy and it would be a shock if Antoine Dupont and co. don’t run up a healthy scoreline to kick things off.
Ireland will watch on after their own pleasing opening chapter to the 2022 Six Nations, a dominant 29-7 bonus-point win over Wales that could have been by a bigger margin.
While captain Johnny Sexton and Ireland know they left a few scores out there in the first half, he also reminded us of the situation this team found themselves in after an opening-weekend defeat to the Welsh in Cardiff this time last year.
“The win and the bonus-point,” said Sexton of what pleased him most about Ireland’s performance today.
“I can’t tell you how demoralising it is… last year you go back to the first game and you’re sitting in the dressing room with nothing to show for all your efforts. Triple Crown gone, Grand Slam gone, up against it to win a championship.
“That’s what we’re most pleased about. We feel there was plenty of stuff to brush up on for next week because France away is arguably one of the biggest tests in world rugby. We need to be at our best and learn lessons from today, even in victory. I think we did that well in November and hopefully we continue in that vein.”
This makes it nine consecutive wins for Ireland. They’re in hot form and a depleted Wales were no match for Andy Farrell’s side in front of a giddy Dublin crowd who didn’t seem in any way perturbed by the second-half rain.
The good times are rolling for Ireland right now but while self-belief is high, there is an awareness of how difficult next Saturday is going to be.
“There’s always been confidence in the group, even when times were low after the first two games of the Six Nations last year,” said Sexton.
“We weren’t too far away and thankfully we turned things around results-wise, but you’re never confident about going over to Paris because it’s a hard place to go.
“You are confident in the group and confident that if we play our very best, we can win. That’s what we need to get out of ourselves this week, get our prep right, look after ourselves recovery-wise, and put our best performance out there to see where it gets us.”
Ireland’s defence was excellent again in Dublin until a frustrating late Welsh score, while their attack sparkled at times.
There is fluidity and imagination to Ireland’s play, with forwards and backs making good decisions on the ball and opposition defences struggling to cope at times.
“The conditions in November were way better than they were today,” said Sexton. “That was the most pleasing aspect. The way the coaches want us to play is that if we get it right, we can still play it on days like today where it’s greasy and windy.
“There’s plenty we left out there today. I thought we were pretty dominant in the first half and we left a couple of opportunities out there. I’m happy with how we turned up for the second half. We haven’t always started the second half well in previous games and we started really well today. We got that all-important bonus point that could tell further down the line.”
Connacht wing Mack Hansen fitted in seamlessly on his Test debut, taking over in the role James Lowe occupied back in November. He has proven a big hit behind the scenes with Ireland too.
“I’ve been really, really impressed,” said Sexton. “He’s a good guy, which is the most important thing. He has bedded in really well with the group and his performance speaks for itself.
“Sometimes guys like himself, I compared him to Lowey a bit in that guys that are so elusive and breaking tackles sometimes don’t shine too much in training too often because we’re often not doing full contact.
“He broke so many tackles this evening so he’s going to shine in those games and we have seen it for Connacht.
“He brought that into the international arena and he’s got a game that’s made for international rugby so hopefully he continues to grow with us. It’s a great start for him.”
