by Ireland have no experience of losing in the Six Nations. It had been so long since they suffered defeat against one of their northern hemisphere rivals that they might even have forgotten what it feels like.
It would be easy to internalize the frustration of beating England 23-22 last weekend and steer it the wrong way, leading to a downward spiral. But they know they cannot be defined by the pain.
“We’re very good at winning and moving on to the next one,” Ireland coach Andy Farrell admitted after the loss. “We have to be very good at losing as well. We have to clean ourselves up and make sure we turn around with a smile on our face because we have a championship to win next weekend.”
The greatest teams, in any sport, are not defined by how they do when the sun is shining but how they deal with adversity. For the first time since February 2022, Ireland have won the Six Nations. They were 80 minutes away from setting the all-time record for consecutive winners in a championship that has been going on for almost 150 years.
Then Twickenham happened. Marcus Smith’s goal happened and the dream of back-to-back grand slams died instantly. But as Farrell said, they have no time to feel sorry for themselves – Scotland are coming to Dublin and the Six Nations title is up for grabs. A win in Saturday’s mid-game would make Super Honest a much-loved man. This is certainly a great Irish team, they may still be the best in the world, and this is their chance to show the mettle of true champions by proving they can bounce back.
In Farrell’s reign, they have become masters at doing just that. While the disappointment of losing to a home World Cup has hung over France like a black cloud during this tournament, Ireland pulled off heartbreak in their own quarter-final to beat Les Bleus 38-17 in Marseille to be removed in the final and, in all likelihood, Bágí will lift the trophy on Saturday evening.
When New Zealand beat them 42-19 at Eden Park in the summer of 2022, they went deep to win the other Tests 23-12 and 32-22 for a historic series win over the All Blacks. After that last Six Nations victory mentioned above – the 30-24 loss to France in Paris in February 2022 – Italy were ruthlessly hammered 57-6 before England were brushed aside 32-15 at Twickenham and Scotland destroyed 26 -5 appropriately.
There is nothing to suggest that Ireland do not have the ability to respond in style at the Aviva Stadium this weekend, regardless of how frustrating last week’s game was, and the squad will see it as an opportunity to prove themselves once again. And, frankly, there is perhaps no more manageable opponent than Scotland.
Ireland have won each of the last nine contests between the teams and 13 of the last 14 against Scotland. Those nine victories came in a row – on both sides of the Irish Sea and once in Japan – by an average margin of victory of 15 points.
Does this Scotland side really believe deep down that they can beat Ireland in Dublin? They haven’t done so since 2010 and have never won at the new Aviva Stadium, since it replaced the old Landsdowne Road when it was demolished in 2007. Gregor Townsend loves to break long hoodoos in his time as a coach, with the curses of Twickenham and Cardiff. both were brought to an end, but the Dublin jinx may be a step too far.
“There’s a determination to be better, it’s hard to go through the criticism when you lose but the players are aligned on where we can improve, and there’s no better challenge than Ireland away from home,” insisted Townsend. after announcing a team of two. changes – Stafford McDowall getting a start at center and Ben White returning as a scout.
He went on to admit that “we’ve shown the best parts of ourselves at times in this championship but we’ve also allowed ourselves to lose focus and if we do that at the weekend we won’t win”.
Scotland has been less successful than Ireland in recent years in supporting strong results and overcoming frustrating defeats. Their bounce reversibility may not be of the same high quality.
In last year’s Six Nations, they were flying after beating England at Twickenham and thrashing Wales but promptly lost 32-21 to France before also going down at the hands of Ireland. Meanwhile, in the 2022 tournament, they faced the emotional high of beating England for the Calcutta Cup, only to slip up against a lower Welsh side and then get taunted by France.
They managed to recover from this year’s controversial TMO-inducing loss to France by beating England (what else is new…) but then stumbled when they lost 31-29 to the Italy last time out. It was their worst result in a number of years and in the battle of teams who need a goal in Dublin on Saturday, Scotland’s task is by far the most difficult.
Farrell fielded the same starting XV at Twickenham for revenge seven days later, with a few bench changes the only changes to the 23rd game. A 2-goal split cost them dearly when Frawley and Calvin Nash were forced off against England – leaving star half-back Jamison Gibson-Park playing on the wing – by going back to the more traditional 5-3 division.
Ireland have learned from their team selection mistakes and Scotland will fear they have rectified their errors on the field this week as well. The men in green need to bounce back to seal another Six Nations crown and recent history suggests they will do just that.
