Ireland have their title - now they'll look to grow

Ireland were crowned the Guinness Six Nations champions on Saturday evening after a stuttering home win against Scotland.

It was certainly not Ireland's most effective attacking game and they struggled to put daylight between themselves and the Scots as a result. However, they scraped home in the end and lifted the trophy.

Ireland achieved four wins out of five, beating France away and narrowly losing to England in the last play of the game in Twickenham, which would have put them on course for back-to-back Grand Slams with the harder away fixtures.

On paper, it’s a great result. In reality, I think Ireland will look for improvements in the coming months.

Winning a trophy helps to change the narrative around this team, starting a new era for Andy Farrell and his squad. It’s important to get off to the right start, which will help to take the pressure off and allow them to develop further.

Heading into the summer tour to South Africa, I’d expect to see Ireland change things around a bit.

"Andy Farrell will be pleased at how they managed when you appreciate some of the changes that were made."

It’s imperative to understand the context that surrounded this Six Nations. Jack Crowley had big boots to fill in replacing Johnny Sexton, which he did exceptionally well. Mack Hansen and Garry Ringrose were injured, Hugo Keenan missed a chunk of games, James Ryan got injured, Calvin Nash was fully blooded, and Joe McCarthy took on his starting role.

There was enough change to warrant a few stumbles and some key personnel were unable to put their stamp on the Irish attack.

Ireland’s exits came under pressure in the last two rounds against England and Scotland. James Lowe was harried into shorter kicks or missed touch which affected them