They are champions, but the real business awaits at Twickenham. Ireland went through that curious half-climax on Saturday of winning a title dressed in suits in a stadium, willing on others to secure them the booty. It is not quite the experience red of tooth and claw that sportsmen crave, in the moment and on the field, but to complete the grand slam by beating England next weekend would be.
Joe Schmidt almost confessed to the semi-satisfactory nature of this latest triumph, a third Six Nations title out of five from his tenure as Ireland coach. As things stand, his first, the 2014 championship, won on the field in Paris in Brian O’Driscoll’s last game, remains his favourite memory.
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“It’s still probably, dare I say it, the most special,” he said. “We won it the moment we finished the game, with guys on the pitch at the time. Since then, in 2015, we were in suits shouting at Uini Atonio to keep the ball and not let it squirt out of the ruck, because we thought England might score. We’re cheering on one team to beat another, and we have no control. Today it was similar. Same two teams, different result, but to give us that clear air, to go to Twickenham with the championship, it’s an incredible relief.”
There would have been no screaming at the screen this time. England had to beat France in Paris with a bonus point to stand any chance of denying Ireland the title. It was clear from a fairly early stage that the requisite four tries were not going to be scored, however close England came to securing the win at the death. So Ireland would have known without knowing for the best part of an hour. No wonder if the experience was curiously flat.
The real business for Ireland had taken place on the field, where they showed themselves to be too powerful and too direct for a Scotland team who played exactly as we knew they would and found once again that it is a fickle philosophy to pursue. Where every outrageous pass had found its mark in victory against England two weeks ago, here they went astray, disastrously so in the 22nd minute when Peter Horne’s cut-out pass was intercepted by Jacob Stockdale for the game’s first try, just as Scotland seemed likely to build on the 3-0 lead they held at the time.
Then it was agonisingly so, when Huw Jones inexplicably failed to find Stuart Hogg on his shoulder a few minutes later, or when Horne failed to find Jones or Blair Kinghorn on his after another brilliant passage in the second half. It seemed harder not to score either of those, and had they scored either the game might have looked very different; had they scored both Scotland might even have won.
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Gregor Townsend was phlegmatic, encouraged by a performance he described as “miles ahead” of their capitulation in Cardiff in round one. Nevertheless, their failure to win a meaningful fixture on the road in the Six Nations continues. But increasingly it is looking as much a reflection on the benefits of home advantage in this competition as it is any fundamental failings on Scotland’s part.
Which would make a grand slam for Ireland quite the achievement, were they to prevail at Twickenham. As it is, this 11th consecutive win since they lost (on the road) against Wales in the championship last season represents an Irish record. If Ireland want to beat and/or emulate England, they might consider a grand slam ideal preparation for their three-Test tour of Australia this summer. Win all those, and the world record of 18 held by New Zealand and England will appear on the horizon. Ireland’s autumn is still up in the air, but none other than New Zealand are confirmed visitors to Dublin on the third weekend of the window – which would represent game number 18 since that defeat in Wales last year.
A fair bit remains to do till then, though. Ireland are so meticulous with the old one-game-at-a-time axiom, their focus is entirely on Twickenham. Johnny Sexton, about whose fitness questions were being muttered after a couple more uncharacteristic, if inconsequential, wobbles in the second half, spoke of what a grand slam – even the Triple Crown – would mean to him, his eight-year quest for one coming to nought since he made his Test debut the autumn after Ireland won only their second grand slam, in 2009.
Schmidt himself is wary of England, whose vertiginous fall from grace over the past two rounds makes him uneasy as much as it may delight so many others. “They’ll be incredibly keen to deny us what we denied them last year,” he said. “They’ll know we’re coming, and they’ll be ready.” Victory number 12 will not come cheaply.