GIVEN HOW MUCH work the Ireland team put in on the pitch, it was strange that they won the championship in the bowels of Murrayfield stadium wearing sharp suits instead of mud-caked jerseys.
It was the exact opposite to last year’s finale, where a tuxedoed group of England players were snapped reacting to Ireland’s championship win in Paris.
This time there were beaming smiles as the players were led back onto the field to take the podium. Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray loved every second of the celebration but admitted that the way the day unfolded made for a tough wait.
“Sick as a dog,” Murray said.
“Physically sick. It was just surreal. I never had to do that. I didn’t have to go through that sort of pain. In fairness to England they gave it some crack. They played exceptional. In fairness to France, they did score a few really good tries. There were a few cheers every time they got over the line. It was just surreal.”
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Even if England had crossed for another try to claim the Six Nations title, the Irish players could be very content with their performance. Their lack of efficiency in the final third against Wales was a little galling considering how accurate Schmidt’s team usually is in every facet of the game.
There were plenty of calls for the side to broaden their game and after Wales’ hefty win over Italy, Ireland were forced to chase scores.
It ended up coaxing a brilliantly devastating attacking display from the team, and Murray says the players were very pleased with how they bounced back from the loss to Warren Gatland’s men.
“We were very proud with what we did when we came off the pitch,” Murray said.
“We thought we had a good chance but seeing the way England played and we just heard the result before we went out on the pitch, what Wales did over in Italy. That was like “God the points difference has gone up a little bit more.’ We got to look at ourselves and pat ourselves on the pack. We did play really well today, when the pressure was on so we are an ecstatic group of lads.”
It was Ireland’s first back-to-back title since 1948/1949 and although delighted with the achievement, Murray is excited about the side’s untapped potential as attention shifts to the World Cup in the autumn.
“Constantly through the Six Nations we have performed well, we have played well but there have been a few areas where we know we can do better,” Murray said.
“That is quite exciting for us as a team with back-to-back Championships now. We know we can get better and push on.”
I spare a thought for the english. we know exactly how they feel with our luck in the eddie era. In each of youngs, robshaw, lancaster, woodward and guscott the first thing they said in post match interview was to congratulate ireland. Thats the players, coaches and media being humble and gracious in defeat. You can only respect this and I hope we face them as worthy opponents sometime in the WC. The same can’t be said for wales who will now indoubtedly talk of how they should have won the grand slam, refereeing decisions etc (though didn’t like how we complained about barnes all week). We were far better against them than they were against england. It took their best performance in a decade at least and we still could have won. They deserved the win in the end, we didn’t take our chances, but they weren’t gracious about it. If england had beaten us instead they wouldn’t dwell on it. They would have acknowledged how good we are, say it was a close run thing, and look to move on, no fuss.
Agree. It never was the case with wales but a fair bit of spite has developed over the gatland years. To be fair it’s primarily the welsh print media and a few Neil Francis grenades ( that said he actuality tipped wales) that have stirred up the rivalry.
But it must be said wales are sore losers and worse winners. I guess it harks back to their legendary 70s teams but time stands still for no man or team and they’ve no divine right to win. If they’re as good as they think, then string together a few performances against southern hemisphere teams.
Very well said. Think most Irish fans would have def preferred England to take title if we hadn’t. Welsh very bad losers. Wales online headline said it all. “At least we beat the champs”. In truth they didn’t beat us. We lost it.
This Six Nations was a real test for the Irish setup. Not only getting back from a defeat and doing what was needed to retain (and not share) the championship. But also to show we don’t win the odd championship and then collapse under the weight of expectation. Great day of rugby with the best possible result.
Just up. So it wasn’t just a dream.