Spin a globe, stop it, go searching for Ireland and, relatively speaking, we’re a pinhead on earth.
And while rugby is something of a niche sport in the world, even so to have the second best team in the game and the best in Europe as things stand is quite remarkable.
After all, while it is still something of an historical wonder that rugby represents the entire island, as explored by Andrew Trimble on RTÉ on Monday night, even so it is still only the fourth biggest team sport in the country.
As the Virgin Media panellists passed verdict on the win over France in Marseille, Trimble ventured that Ireland had become an “entitled” rugby nation. And in his whimsical way, Trimble was perhaps right, which feels uncomfortable.
It just doesn’t suit us. Granted, the World Cup quarter-final is a handy stick for the anti-rugby lobby, but so it is that a year which saw Ireland win a Grand Slam and extend an all-time Irish record winning run to 17 Tests can be viewed as, well, almost ho-hum.
Along with other landmarks under first Joe Schmidt and now Andy Farrell, there’s never been as good an Irish team as this one, witness 19 wins in their last 20 Tests, or 31 wins in their last 34 since the round three defeat behind closed doors against France in 2021.
So Trimble has a point in that we should enjoy having a team this good, as it assuredly won’t last forever, and this has been underlined by the opening two rounds of the Six Nations.
Italian demolition job with Gerry Thornley and John O'Sullivan
While England-Wales surpassed expectations in that Warren Gatland’s remodelled young team performed creditably and led 14-5 at half-time, from a long way out they never looked like scoring again. There was an inevitability about England’s win as the lack of Welsh strength in depth caught up with them.
Some of the prematch and post-match views from former English players – with talk of Steve Borthwick’s team playing with “freedom”, of being “exciting”, of “problem-solving”, of it being an “enjoyable” game – were surprising.
While their defence under Felix Jones is interesting, their rugby is struggling to break free from Borthwick’s statistics-driven kicking game. That said, if they beat Scotland next Saturday week, they will have won nine out of 10 games heading into that round four showdown with Ireland. They may be hard to watch, but they are hard to beat too.
Either way, given the barefaced cheek of an Irish side coming over as reigning Grand Slam champions and widely acclaimed red hot favourites, England and Twickenham will be in a fervour.
Admittedly, England will first be facing an indignant Scottish side looking for retribution after the controversial nature of their defeat at home to France.
In all probability, while not absolutely certain, Sam Skinner grounded the ball with the last play of the game, although one had some sympathy for referee Nic Berry and TMO Brian MacNeice, and the controversy around this decision will only heighten the pressure on the officials the next time a result entirely hinges on such a call.
It would also help the officials if referees were less inclined to give an “on-field” verdict, be it “try” or “no try”, before seeking help from their TMO, or else afford the latter more power to overrule them.
Whatever about all that, it’s disappointing that Scotland and France have reined in their attacking flair, the aerial ping-pong giving us a game featuring 85 kicks from hand.
What’s more, in the cold light of day when reviewing this game Gregor Townsend, Finn Russell and co will be kicking themselves for not beating a French team that have retained mental baggage from the World Cup and were there for the taking.
Scotland failed to make Uini Atonio’s sinbinning count before half-time, six points was not a sufficient buffer to engage in kick tennis and for all the furore about the fateful five-minute review at the end, they had the number to score if they’d played with their heads up.
In many ways, this Six Nations has continued in a similar vein to the last two, save for how France have regressed. One ventures that not even Fabien Galthié could dare tell Antoine Dupont how to play rugby and his inspiration is clearly missed.
They did dig deep for the win in Murrayfield, but in many respects Les Bleus were worse than on opening night in Marseilles, be it their slipshod lineout or dropped balls.
Nor can Dupont’s absence explain the apparent lack of joie de vivre in their increasingly restrictive and aimless kicking game. The same players, especially with Bordeaux/Begles, Toulouse and Racing ‘92, are playing with way more ambition for their clubs.
While Wales are trying to develop an attacking ball-in-hand game, a fine generation grew old together and in contrast to the post-Johnny Sexton and post-Owen Farrell eras with Ireland, they look bereft at outhalf post-Dan Biggar.
All of which has served to leave Ireland as not only the best of the bunch, but the best to watch as well more than ever. True, it’s only two rounds and the figures may have been skewed by hosting Italy in round two, but they also put France to the sword in the Vélodrome.
By any metric, Ireland play comfortably the most ambitious brand of attacking rugby in the competition, be it carries, passes, defenders beaten, clean breaks and tries, with only Scotland making more offloads. Interestingly, Wales are second in all categories, which suggests the round three clash at the Aviva should be a good game.
Being such clear favourites is unnerving, especially as the Six Nations has a penchant for surprises. Yet for the sake of rugby, even removing the green-tinged glasses, this Ireland need to win the 2024 Six Nations, and ideally by beating all the others again.
A friend who was in Portlaoise on Sunday found a large pub to watch Sunday’s game. While the Galway-Tipperary hurling match was on one screen, he said that of the 300 there everyone was watching the Ireland-Italy game on the larger screen. Roughly half of them wore green tops and many of those watching were women.
The atmosphere at the Aviva was again lamentable but the Irish sporting public appear to remain engaged with this team’s brand of rugby, and why not? They’re a winning team, but has there ever been a better Irish team to watch?
