Like every other person on this damp cold little Island, I hate January, it’s the longest most depressing month and it follows the Christmas month of December like a hangover follows a great night out. As soon as the 1st of February arrives things get a little bit better, the weather improves (slightly) the days get longer and best of all it’s the start of the greatest rugby competition in the northern hemisphere, the six nations!
Every year this competition offers a much-needed lift in spirits after a dismal winter, in recent years the irish rugby teams support has swelled due to our successes not least winning 3 triple crowns since 2004 and regularly beating England which is as good as winning the championship itself but no matter how well we have done the grand slam still eludes us which is a little hard to understand seen as this squad has often been referred to as the golden generation of Irish rugby since the early 2000’s when the likes of Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara and Co. first appeared on the international scene. In the following years this squad went to Paris beat France and also won the 3 triple crowns so is there a grand slam on the horizon? Have we reason to be more optimistic this year then other years? Simply No, we’ll do well this year and we will hold our own we have the best irish rugby coach around in the form of Declan Kidney, we have the unstoppable force of
the O’Driscoll, Kearney, Fitzgerald back line, the immovable object that is the Munster front 5 and the O’leary, O’gara axis that brings them together. So on paper all we have to do is turn up to the five games and the grand slam is ours, Again No France and Wales will have something to say about that.
Our first game is at home to France on the 7th, this is probably the best game for us to start the championship the French are notoriously slow starters to any championship be it Rugby or Soccer so if we are to catch them on the hop our best chance is to do it early on, then on Valentines weekend its off to Rome to beat the Italians which we should do but they are a progressive team and have shown consistent improvement over the last few years their forwards will put it up to us for 30 or 40 minutes but we’ll prevail in the end, anyway can you think of anything more romantic than being in Rome and watching 30 lads pummelling the shite out of each other for 80 minutes!
Then its England in Croke Park, the fact that its at home and England under Martin Johnson have failed to settle means we should expect to win this one but having had a disappointing Autumn series the England team will be out to redeem themselves, their biggest problem in recent years has been getting the team to gel they have no first choice out half or scrum half so if Martin Johnson can find his best starting 15 they could be dangerous.
We then have Scotland in Murrayfield. No matter how well Ireland seem to be doing this is always a game we find hard to win, Scottish rugby has been in a poor state of health for the past 3 or 4 years but regardless they always pull off one surprise performance in the championship such as beating England last year, still they should be battling with Italy to avoid the wooden spoon again this year.
The final game then is Wales in Cardiff, whether we can win the championship or triple crown will come down to this game, Wales under Warren Gatland is a rejuvenated side that play a slick passing style of rugby that is a joy to watch they have the current world player of the year in Shane Williams who put us to the sword last year but this game will come down to a battle between our two packs where Ireland should have the edge and win it by a whisker.
So we should be optimistic going into this year’s championship Lord knows the way the country is now we need it if the team can gel and find the form of a few years ago another triple crown is very possible, a grand slam not likely but how I would love to be proved wrong
Every year this competition offers a much-needed lift in spirits after a dismal winter, in recent years the irish rugby teams support has swelled due to our successes not least winning 3 triple crowns since 2004 and regularly beating England which is as good as winning the championship itself but no matter how well we have done the grand slam still eludes us which is a little hard to understand seen as this squad has often been referred to as the golden generation of Irish rugby since the early 2000’s when the likes of Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara and Co. first appeared on the international scene. In the following years this squad went to Paris beat France and also won the 3 triple crowns so is there a grand slam on the horizon? Have we reason to be more optimistic this year then other years? Simply No, we’ll do well this year and we will hold our own we have the best irish rugby coach around in the form of Declan Kidney, we have the unstoppable force of
the O’Driscoll, Kearney, Fitzgerald back line, the immovable object that is the Munster front 5 and the O’leary, O’gara axis that brings them together. So on paper all we have to do is turn up to the five games and the grand slam is ours, Again No France and Wales will have something to say about that.Our first game is at home to France on the 7th, this is probably the best game for us to start the championship the French are notoriously slow starters to any championship be it Rugby or Soccer so if we are to catch them on the hop our best chance is to do it early on, then on Valentines weekend its off to Rome to beat the Italians which we should do but they are a progressive team and have shown consistent improvement over the last few years their forwards will put it up to us for 30 or 40 minutes but we’ll prevail in the end, anyway can you think of anything more romantic than being in Rome and watching 30 lads pummelling the shite out of each other for 80 minutes!
Then its England in Croke Park, the fact that its at home and England under Martin Johnson have failed to settle means we should expect to win this one but having had a disappointing Autumn series the England team will be out to redeem themselves, their biggest problem in recent years has been getting the team to gel they have no first choice out half or scrum half so if Martin Johnson can find his best starting 15 they could be dangerous.
We then have Scotland in Murrayfield. No matter how well Ireland seem to be doing this is always a game we find hard to win, Scottish rugby has been in a poor state of health for the past 3 or 4 years but regardless they always pull off one surprise performance in the championship such as beating England last year, still they should be battling with Italy to avoid the wooden spoon again this year.
The final game then is Wales in Cardiff, whether we can win the championship or triple crown will come down to this game, Wales under Warren Gatland is a rejuvenated side that play a slick passing style of rugby that is a joy to watch they have the current world player of the year in Shane Williams who put us to the sword last year but this game will come down to a battle between our two packs where Ireland should have the edge and win it by a whisker.
So we should be optimistic going into this year’s championship Lord knows the way the country is now we need it if the team can gel and find the form of a few years ago another triple crown is very possible, a grand slam not likely but how I would love to be proved wrong
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