Ireland Rugby Autumn Nations Review- Excitement heightened for a big 2023
Lauren McCann
Ireland concluded their Autumn Nations Series last week with a scrappy 13-10 victory over Australia at the Aviva Stadium, courtesy of a late penalty from Ross Byrne.
That result ensured that Andy Farrell’s men won all three of their fixtures after a 19-16 win over World Champions South Africa and a commanding 35-17 triumph over Fiji.
Despite the three victories - the South African one being particularly momentous given they are World Champions - many people believe that there is still more to come from this Ireland side. They are hopeful that with three more victories against good opposition under their belt, Ireland have generated momentum and have a platform to build upon ahead of the Six Nations in the spring, a tournament they will enter as one of the favourites.
Yet demand for continued improvement is due to the glimpses Ireland have shown of just how good they can be this year. Along with beating South Africa, they have also put New Zealand to the sword this year in a historic series win against the All Blacks in their own backyard.
They are currently ranked number one in the world and will have the desire to right the wrongs of previous Six Nations and World Cup campaigns of recent years when both those tournaments roll around again next year.
Ireland began the Autumn Nations on a high with that victory over South Africa, despite losing three key men to injury in an intense first half which saw both sides go in level at the break. Stuart McCloskey, Conor Murray and Tadhg Furlong all hobbled off, but, as would be a running theme during this trio of games, their replacements rose to the challenge and helped Ireland surge in front in a blistering 10-minute spell after the interval.
After a strong defensive performance in the first period, Ireland’s backline was tested more severely as South Africa looked for a route back into the game late in the contest, but they managed to see out a deserved victory in front of a large crowd who certainly have faith in what Farrell is building.
Ireland will be one of the favourites for next year’s Six Nations and Rugby World Cup.
The Fiji game was a fairly different proposition for Ireland, which allowed Farrell to give minutes to some less experienced members of his squad as he made nine alterations from the team who beat the Springboks.
Joey Carberry started along with Tadgh Furlong, who recovered in time from injury to captain his country for the first time in his career with Johnny Sexton absent.
Jack Crowley, Jeremy Loughman and Cian Prendergast were handed their international debuts.
Despite the commanding scoreline in the game, it did take Ireland a while to get to grips with a strong Fiji side who took a shock lead due to Ireland’s sloppy start and managed to score two converted tries.
The hosts managed to recover before the break and hit back with tries of their own with two coming from Nick Timoney and the other from Robert Baloucoune.
Fiji being reduced to 14 men in the second period certainly aided their cause as Ireland added further tries from Mack Hansen and Cian Healy to put the game to bed.
Then came the Australia game, which as aforementioned, was a very tight encounter. Caelan Doris scored the only try in which Ireland’s reliance upon Johnny Sexton as skipper and kicker was laid bare.
Their talismanic captain pulled out in the warmup with a calf injury, and whilst Jack Crowley fresh from making his debut against Fiji came in to replace him and impressed, finding someone to fill Sexton’s very big boots is still an issue they must address, due to the fact that he is now 37 and surely won’t be around for much longer.
Ross Byrne was another who stood out for the hosts in a game in which they lacked coherency in attack, and will be the first to admit that they were lucky to win. He wasn’t expected to make the squad for the game until Sexton got injured in the warmup. He came on as a second half sub and scored a penalty with an impressive kick to put Ireland ahead.
Whilst the performance was far from pretty, the result was significant. It was their 17th win in 19 games as well as their 12th consecutive victory at home. The Aviva appears to be a fortress once again.
Another bonus for Ireland is that they seem to now have great strength and depth in most positions ahead of the two big tournaments coming up. Farrell has put a lot of effort into bringing new young players through and seems to be reaping the rewards of being allowed to mould the squad as he will like it.
Of course, Ireland have failed to deliver when expectations around them have been high before but given the need to avenge their recent failures in both the Six Nations and World Cup as well as the quality at Farrell’s disposal and results this calendar year, Ireland fans are right to expect that 2023 will be even better than this year.
Lauren McCann is The Scoop’s Sport Editor and an English and Spanish student at Queen’s University Belfast.