Ferris: Current Irish team are the greatest ever

Stephen Ferris says the current Irish team has established themselves in the greatest in history after completing the Grand Slam at the weekend.

Ireland's fourth Grand Slam was their first rounded off in Dublin and the first in which all five victories were secured by double digit margins.

Ferris, a key figure in Ireland's first Grand Slam winning team in the modern era in 2009, argues that when the totality of the current side's achievements across 2022 and 2023 are taken into account, they have to be considered as better than all their predecessors.

"Jamie Heaslip, Jerry Flannery and I were asked before the game at the weekend, is this Ireland's greatest ever side?," Ferris told Game On on RTÉ 2fm.

"We all said, 'possibly', 'yes', 'no', 'we're not sure'... but that was before the game. After the game, I think it is.

"What they've achieved in the last year, beating the world champions South Africa in November, going away to New Zealand and winning the series.

"I certainly feel they are the best Irish side that have ever played. Johnny Sexton, in my opinion, is the best Irish player to have ever played as well.

"It's truly remarkable what the guy has achieved in the game. And the only thing left for him to be one of the best players in the history of the game, globally, is to win a Rugby World Cup. They've put themselves in a really good position to be able to achieve that success.

"It's a proud moment to be an Irish fan and I think we all want this World Cup to come sooner rather than later."

The next frontier for Irish rugby is the Rugby World Cup, thus far a tale of woe for Ireland, who remain the only top-tier nation not to progress past the quarter-final stage.

While at least some of this is attributable to misfortune -