STATE OF THE NATION

And so ends the Six Nations.

Amidst gypsy gate scandals and citing concerns, all credit to England for winning the Grand Slam. A lot of people will claim it was an “easy Slam”, but the truth is there is no such thing – it is hard to win every game in a Six Nations championship. Eddie Jones has revitalised the national side: his decisions to move Chris Robshaw to openside and hand Dylan Hartley the captaincy have been masterstrokes that have changed England’s fortunes dramatically.

As for Ireland, I feel it was summed up best by George Hook: “When did coming third represent a success for Ireland?”

It is not a Six Nations for Ireland to remember, and one suspects they won’t. Besides the few bright spots that came from the tournament, there wasn’t much to cheer for Joe Schmidt and his coaching staff and it leaves a lot of questions hanging in the air surrounding this squad before they travel to South Africa in the summer.

So here is my summation of the Six Nations, split into the good, the bad and the ugly!

The good

- CJ Stander has announced himself on the international scene with a bang. He managed to transfer his excellent provincial form with Munster into a green shirt and has proven that he can hack it at the highest level. He adds yet another option in a crowded back row with both Peter O’Mahony and Chris Henry still to add back into the mix alongside Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip.
- Amongst the poor performances some young players did get their chance to impress. Finlay Bealham, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier and Stuart McCloskey all got game time with Dillane’s appearance off the bench at Twickenham one of the more impressive cameos of the Six Nations.
- Jonny Sexton got back to form as the tournament went on. There were doubts over the fly-half going into February but the Leinster man certainly turned those on their head with some excellent performances, especially against Italy and Scotland.

The bad 

- In the end the stats will reflect that Ireland picked up just two wins, and they were at home to Italy and Scotland – not exactly the most impressive return. Admittedly winning at Twickenham was always going to be tricky but based on the fixtures Ireland had you would have expected four wins with the Twickenham match deciding the Grand Slam. In the end we were left needing to beat Scotland just to finish third.
- On the whole Ireland just did not look impressive. With a back line that constantly had to be reshuffled it’s understandable however things never looked fluid for Schmidt’s men and the tries didn’t flow like we were hoping they would. It was only whenever the two weaker sides in the competition came to Dublin that our backs showed any sign of a clinical edge. That has to be a concern going forward.
- Schmidt went with his tried and tested throughout the tournament without paying any attention to form. Despite having played just two games coming into the Six Nations Jared Payne was thrust straight into the centre with Robbie Henshaw despite Stuart McCloskey being the form centre in Ireland. Paddy Jackson didn’t even get a minute of game time despite being the form fly-half either.

The ugly 

- Italy’s form over the Six Nations should have afforded Schmidt some wiggle room to work with his selection. Dillane had impressed enough against England to deserve a start and Finlay Bealham could have been given a start too. Even with Ireland needing a win in that game, everyone could see that Ireland were so superior to their opponents that there was enough to win with those young guys starting.
- Ireland’s average squad age was the highest of the six countries, and after a World Cup that isn’t something to be that proud of. True, experience is a good thing to have in a squad, especially if you’re trying to win a tournament, but it’s time to be looking towards the 2019 World Cup and focusing on who will lead the Irish charge then. Right now it looks like that isn’t a priority.