State of the Nation: Ireland making great strides under Andy Farrell’s guidance

Now that the 2022 Six Nations is wrapped up, we delve into the state of affairs in each of the competing nations. Next up, Ireland.

After impressing during the 2021 Autumn Nations Series, in which they won all three of their Tests against New Zealand, Japan and Argentina, there was an air of excitement amongst Ireland fans as their side prepared for this year’s Six Nations.

Their fine end-of-year form followed a strong finish during that year’s Six Nations campaign and back-to-back victories over the Brave Blossoms and the USA in their mid-year Tests, which gave the men from the Emerald Isle plenty of confidence.

That meant Andy Farrell‘s charges entered this year’s Six Nations on an eight-match winning streak, putting them amongst the favourites to win the tournament.

They kicked off in style with an excellent 29-7 bonus-point triumph over Wales in Dublin – an encounter in which the home side dominated from start to finish as they made a statement of intent to their rivals.

Four tries paved the way to victory in that Test while captain Johnny Sexton showed that he still has a role to play at Test level with a polished all-round performance.

Ireland’s next match was a tricky assignment against eventual Grand Slam winners France in Paris and they had to take on that challenge without chief playmaker Sexton, who was ruled out with a hamstring strain. Joey Carbery came in to the run-on side at fly-half and although he and the entire Irish team gave a good account of themselves, it wasn’t enough to get the better of Les Bleus, who sealed a 30-24 victory.

Next up was a home fixture against Italy and, as expected, Ireland sealed an easy 57-6 victory, but that game was ruined as Italy played most of the match with 13 men after