Johnny Sexton eyes up New Zealand tour after Triple Crown success

When you look under the bonnet of Ireland's Guinness Six Nations campaign for 2022, you see the makings of a powerful engine, but one that still needs some tinkering.

Finishing second place in the table, and in spite of four bonus-point wins in five games, it's fair to say Ireland didn't hit those same heights they did in November when they played New Zealand off the park, and dished out hammerings to Argentina and Japan.

But that's not to say they've taken a step back. Eighteen months out from a World Cup, their return from the championship was more than acceptable, leaving them working off a very promising base that has plenty of scope for improvement.

There are issues they need to address over the coming months, particularly at the scrum. While they were partly vindicated for last week's six scrum penalties in their feedback from World Rugby, it was troublesome again yesterday.

Three penalties won at the setpiece were offset by four conceded as they fell the wrong side of Wayne Barnes in the second half.

The other area of improvement is the accuracy of their attack.

The intent is there for all to see, and is a major improvement on their 2020 and early 2021 form, but they've been guilty of overplaying their hand at times in the opposition 22.

This is arguably a much easier issue to fix. The more they play, and the more familiar they become with the system, it's logical to suggest that their decision making and feel will grow with it.

That's what makes their next camp so interesting, a three-Test tour of New Zealand this summer, which is likely to include additional midweek games.

"It's massive. It's the perfect opportunity that we need," said head coach Andy Farrell after yesterday's 26-5 win against Scotland.

"We've talked time