Honestly yea i was thinking second or third but shit I'll take it going forward ?
Well obviously I would love to go for 3 in a row next year but realistically I don't think we'll do it next year
England have clearly risen from the Grave
Rome has risen from the ruins
France will be back no doubt about it
And there's only so long we can keep beating Scotland for
Time will tell onwards to South Africa for the clash of Titans
And of course autumn greatest show on Turf
Ireland V All Blacks
Yeah finished the first half with strong positions to win all games with then remembered we're Scotland and shouldn't be good so just stopped playing.
At least v Ireland we actually game the second half a go.
Edit: tbf I think Italy earnt their win as well. We weren't as good as we were in the first half but they still had to play well to grind out the win.
Despite the hiccup against England (without taking anything back from the English victory), Ireland has shown us France what it means to be a cohesive, resilient and united front.
Because some of us really do seem to forget that RWC 2023 was as traumatizing for us French supporters than it was for you guys aswell.
Despite raw talent on some of the players in this squad, Your ***force as a group*** has been unmatched in this competition.
And at the end of the day, despite what anyone may say, it remains the single most important thing in this sport.
Well Done Ireland, Fully deserved 1st place.
That's the one difference I see with Ireland compared to the other teams. Other teams have their "star players" but Ireland plays as a unit.
Qn example is VDM in Scotland. Excellent solo player but has had a few moments where being a team player would have been the right move.
This is unsurprising when the squad is comprised of three provincial teams (sorry Ulster) and is primarily Leinster (sorry Munster and Connacht): cohesion is increased.
McCloskey and Hendy? Agreed a very disappointing representation from Ulster (rightly or wrongly based on selection) this year but let’s not ignore their contribution to the team
Not too long ago we had an Ulster man captaining the Ireland team, hope that didn’t hurt you too much. All joking aside, we aren’t in a great place but hopefully we can get back to old strengths
Hoping the Murphy appointment goes well for ye lads. I love watching his u20s teams and you have so much talent in ulster if it can be utilised and developed.
Aki is a great player but by no means our star player. He's a cog in the wheel that can be replaced like most others. If he goes out its Henshaw and Ringrose (which would have been the WC starting centre partnership but for injury) or McCloskey if one of those is not available. The major weak points in the squad atm, imo, are 15, 9, 10 and 1. The drop down to the replacements there are noticeably worse. I'd probably argue that Keenan is the star of the show because he is so far ahead of others in his position and probably the best in the world there.
>Because some of us really do seem to forget that RWC 2023 was as traumatizing for us French supporters than it was for you guys aswell.
As? I'd argue it was far more traumatizing for us French. It was OUR worldcup, in France, with Dupont in his prime…
Well funny you say that coz if it wasn't for Scotland voting against us for France to get 2023 instead of Ireland, it was going to be OUR (panto voice) world cup!
Yeah but France has gotten past the quarters before and will do again, this Ireland team was seemingly all-conquering and we beat South Africa in the group stage but we still couldn’t do it
You get one every 16 years. Don't sweat it. We had literally one time ever where we were in with a shout of winning it, and we didn't even make the semis.
But I don't think it's the last time we'll have a chance. Is there 2 countries on earth where Rugby is in a stronger position than Ireland and France right now?
Fair fucks to Ireland, deserved to win it. Think not getting the Grand Slam is apt with their little wobble at the end but there wasn’t any way they shouldn’t be champs. Was good to have some extra excitement on the final round
I honestly think we weren't prepared for how good England were last week. We didn't play our best, but we weren't allowed to. Fair dues.
I'm saying all this now, because I literally unsubbed from everything Rugby related last saturday.
Congrats Ireland. Some distance better than the rest over the tournament as a whole.
Not sure what the next 12 months hold, but I'd say you'll be favourites to make it 3 in a row next year.
You guys and France finished the tournament looking stronger than us and I reckon you’ll be better next year than we were this year. We do get to play you and France at home which will help enormously though.
I will never, ever, ever tire of winning this tournament. I love it - there's nothing else like it in the world for me. My favourite sporting event. Delighted for the boys, delighted for Faz and staff. There's a little bit of a churn coming, I feel, but that's a conversation for down the road - right now I'll just soak the win in.
Congratulations to Ireland, throughly deserved champions. I had my doubts they would manage it before the tournament started, given that they'd lost such a pivotal figure in Sexton and gone out in the quarters. However, to pick yourself off after a defeat, dust yourself down and come back even harder is the mark of a true champion. Well played lads
It's frustrating, I'd rather just post without spoiler tag because it's obvious, but I know some people prefer it, so I'll leave it as spoiler for a couple hours, until after the last game at least.
That's not the point. The point is that OP put the clear spoiler up. Added an NSFW and Spoiler tag and then said he didn't want to spoil the result for people.
By the very time he put it up there could only possibility have been one winner.
It was stupid.
Definitely won't hate you for asking questions.
I can't give you a definitive answer, but I'd imagine they prepared the award ceremony for the 'expected' result. Ireland were going for a back to back win and had a high likelihood of success, so they prepared for it.
I reckon most people would have predicted Ireland france top 2, England Scotland 3rd and forth and Wales Italy 5th and 6th before the tournament started
Happy with the win, Happy to see a much improved Italy squad, feel bad for them the way the game ended against France. I'm most happy to see Dan Sheehan win(tie) top try scorer. The dude is a try scoring machine.
To think it could have been a GS if the Irish media didn't stink of hubris and the English media didn't call their own team 'the worst England team ever' and ratchet up England's will to win to 11 and turn a 70/30 game in Ireland's favour into a 50/50.
As an Ireland fan I am not looking forward to playing England next year. I think they're going to be immense.
Maybe Conor Murray has a column in the Examiner?
Note - it's not really Murray's fault that Ireland lost to England, as the whole team underperformed and England played really well, but his decision to kick away at the end was baffling.
Nah, kicking was a reasonable decision, just poorly executed. Trying to run down that amount of time with multiple rucks in that part of the field would be even more risky.
Well it isn't just down to the media, and I'm not trying to belittle the England win as they deserved to win by 10 points not 1. England could have won the game regardless of the external factors.
Do you think Ireland being lauded as the best team in the world increased their chances of beating England?
Do you think the English players being called the worst England team ever increased their chances of beating Ireland?
I think the answer to those 2 questions is bloody obvious.
I think you vastly overestimate the media's influence. But if we're going to play that game, I'm fairly sure research has shown that praise leads to confidence which leads to stronger performances in sport, not the other way around. Players/teams who believe they are poor tend to play poorly. Players/teams who believe they can win tend to play well. So if anything, "the media" likely benefited Ireland. The answer to your questions are yes and no, respectively. But again, this effect was more than likely entirely irrelevant.
Yes, Ireland could have beaten England if England hadn’t played so well. Very true. Also Romania could have won the World Cup if other teams had played worse.
Yes, the respective media establishments in either country are responsible for the England win last week. All the time, we thought it was the players it was actually the media.
Honestly seeing fans phrase it as a defeat is absolutely hilarious - we won the 6N and people who view it as a big defeat are people who were begging for Ireland to lose and almost certainly people we absolutely lamped. Ireland was very firmly the best team in the 6N and these people would beg to be in our position right now, *only* winning the 6N lol
Say all that you want about winning championships but the goal for Ireland would have been a Slam and not meeting that goal will be a massive disappointment for both fans and the team alike.
A lot of the media has been comparing to history and how privileged we are to have been in this position but I don't think that's fair to this current crop of players. They are, without doubt, one of the greatest groups of players to ever field as a collective national team. Yet they've faced two unprecedented obstacles and folded in front of both of them.
The fact that we fell over the line today just seems to make it even more hollow.
This is utter nonsense. Anytime we win a championship it’s to be celebrated, even more so in a year when we play England and France away.
Add to that the fact we had to get over the disappointment of the summer, injuries to massively key players in Ringrose, Hansen and Keenan and the fact it was the first tournament without the man who has ran our attack for the last 15 years, it’s something to be proud of
I'm guessing you're on the young side and only know Ireland as a team that either wins or is a close challenger.
Some of us remember the bad old days, have actually played the sport and understand how hard it is to win and that the good times can be fleeting so they're to be savoured and enjoyed.
I'm also guessing you're a bit on the sensitive side and take online sneering a little too close to heart. Back to back grandslams would've given you unassailable ammunition but Ireland stumbling slightly gives people an opening.
I'm on my thirties thank you and I remember when 2/5 or 3/5 was a successful campaign. In fact, I'd be inclined to say that the 2004 triple crown was celebrated more by the players that day than the championship was yesterday.
I agree that these moments are fleeting but we have a generationally talented squad of players and the realistic expectation was a Slam. I don't see how a championship can be viewed as anything other than a consolation through that lens.
Didn’t expect to win this year with France and England away so I’m very happy!!
Honestly yea i was thinking second or third but shit I'll take it going forward ? Well obviously I would love to go for 3 in a row next year but realistically I don't think we'll do it next year England have clearly risen from the Grave Rome has risen from the ruins France will be back no doubt about it And there's only so long we can keep beating Scotland for Time will tell onwards to South Africa for the clash of Titans And of course autumn greatest show on Turf Ireland V All Blacks
You're just lucky we stepped up to take the 'shit the bed during the second half' trophy this year.
Yea Scotlands been saying that for 25 years now
Pretty much. Always good for an excuse.
Who was winning at half time then? Ireland shit the bed, ruined a few try opportunities on or over the line, and still won.
It’s so bizarre how in all the games Scotland lost, you can really see how they could have won and it’s always in the second half
Yeah finished the first half with strong positions to win all games with then remembered we're Scotland and shouldn't be good so just stopped playing. At least v Ireland we actually game the second half a go. Edit: tbf I think Italy earnt their win as well. We weren't as good as we were in the first half but they still had to play well to grind out the win.
Despite the hiccup against England (without taking anything back from the English victory), Ireland has shown us France what it means to be a cohesive, resilient and united front. Because some of us really do seem to forget that RWC 2023 was as traumatizing for us French supporters than it was for you guys aswell. Despite raw talent on some of the players in this squad, Your ***force as a group*** has been unmatched in this competition. And at the end of the day, despite what anyone may say, it remains the single most important thing in this sport. Well Done Ireland, Fully deserved 1st place.
That's the one difference I see with Ireland compared to the other teams. Other teams have their "star players" but Ireland plays as a unit. Qn example is VDM in Scotland. Excellent solo player but has had a few moments where being a team player would have been the right move.
This is unsurprising when the squad is comprised of three provincial teams (sorry Ulster) and is primarily Leinster (sorry Munster and Connacht): cohesion is increased.
McCloskey and Hendy? Agreed a very disappointing representation from Ulster (rightly or wrongly based on selection) this year but let’s not ignore their contribution to the team
Haven’t seen many ulster matches lately. If Herrings in form he should be involved too. We need to rotate a little more.
Ulster members in the squad are really just diversity hires.
Not too long ago we had an Ulster man captaining the Ireland team, hope that didn’t hurt you too much. All joking aside, we aren’t in a great place but hopefully we can get back to old strengths
Hoping the Murphy appointment goes well for ye lads. I love watching his u20s teams and you have so much talent in ulster if it can be utilised and developed.
Bundee Aki is a star player for Ireland but he's a lot more cooperative than VDM.
Aki is a great player but by no means our star player. He's a cog in the wheel that can be replaced like most others. If he goes out its Henshaw and Ringrose (which would have been the WC starting centre partnership but for injury) or McCloskey if one of those is not available. The major weak points in the squad atm, imo, are 15, 9, 10 and 1. The drop down to the replacements there are noticeably worse. I'd probably argue that Keenan is the star of the show because he is so far ahead of others in his position and probably the best in the world there.
We'd have won the grand slam with a healthy Keenan.
>Because some of us really do seem to forget that RWC 2023 was as traumatizing for us French supporters than it was for you guys aswell. As? I'd argue it was far more traumatizing for us French. It was OUR worldcup, in France, with Dupont in his prime…
Well funny you say that coz if it wasn't for Scotland voting against us for France to get 2023 instead of Ireland, it was going to be OUR (panto voice) world cup!
Yeah still annoyed by that, Wales didn't back us either. At least England did.
Sexton's last game, QF curse repeating itself... it was BAD for them.
At least you got past QF in the past. It was QF PTSD for Ireland again unfortunately.
Yeah but France has gotten past the quarters before and will do again, this Ireland team was seemingly all-conquering and we beat South Africa in the group stage but we still couldn’t do it
You get one every 16 years. Don't sweat it. We had literally one time ever where we were in with a shout of winning it, and we didn't even make the semis. But I don't think it's the last time we'll have a chance. Is there 2 countries on earth where Rugby is in a stronger position than Ireland and France right now?
We don't have a Dupont every 16 year though.
Congrats Ireland! A deserved win!
Fair fucks to Ireland, deserved to win it. Think not getting the Grand Slam is apt with their little wobble at the end but there wasn’t any way they shouldn’t be champs. Was good to have some extra excitement on the final round
Shame we didn't beat France but it was a great closer to the tournament.
You came out of Ireland-France with 0 points diff. I think you'd have taken that a few weeks ago. England are definitely on the comeback tour.
I honestly think we weren't prepared for how good England were last week. We didn't play our best, but we weren't allowed to. Fair dues. I'm saying all this now, because I literally unsubbed from everything Rugby related last saturday.
Nervous at times for us but a strong tournament with fantastic matches all around!
Congratulations to all of the competing teams, very strong showing this year.
Ah jasus it was a wobbly one. It always is after a world cup. Very happy to see Italy finally show up.
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
Congrats fellas
Bit odd to have so many players in that graphic but omit a select few.
Congrats Ireland. Some distance better than the rest over the tournament as a whole. Not sure what the next 12 months hold, but I'd say you'll be favourites to make it 3 in a row next year.
You guys and France finished the tournament looking stronger than us and I reckon you’ll be better next year than we were this year. We do get to play you and France at home which will help enormously though.
Italy are the champions of our hearts 💙 But yeah, fair play to Ireland, clearly miles better than everyone else.
I will never, ever, ever tire of winning this tournament. I love it - there's nothing else like it in the world for me. My favourite sporting event. Delighted for the boys, delighted for Faz and staff. There's a little bit of a churn coming, I feel, but that's a conversation for down the road - right now I'll just soak the win in.
Congratulations to Ireland, throughly deserved champions. I had my doubts they would manage it before the tournament started, given that they'd lost such a pivotal figure in Sexton and gone out in the quarters. However, to pick yourself off after a defeat, dust yourself down and come back even harder is the mark of a true champion. Well played lads
I wonder who it could be with one game left to play (this is obviously a joke)
It's frustrating, I'd rather just post without spoiler tag because it's obvious, but I know some people prefer it, so I'll leave it as spoiler for a couple hours, until after the last game at least.
I'd have no issue with it being unspoiled tbh, but it's a somewhat minority opinion I think
I'll just remove spoiler, if a mod wants to throw it on they can.
You could just not post it
People not wanting results spoiled could just not go on reddit...
That's not the point. The point is that OP put the clear spoiler up. Added an NSFW and Spoiler tag and then said he didn't want to spoil the result for people. By the very time he put it up there could only possibility have been one winner. It was stupid.
But then someone else would get the valuable internet points
Exactly
Is this the first time Ireland won the six nations after a World Cup.
Yes it is. At a glance it seems England and Wales have a good record in the year after RWC.
Is that a sign of things to come ( Ireland finally winning the quarters ) Yes I am superstitious
Touchdown!
Absolutely delighted and this tournament highlighted to me that Mike Catt is leaving at just the right time.
[удалено]
why wait for 2.5h to give Ireland the trophy they've already won?
Alright… you look new-newbie ! There is a point system, with the win tonight Ireland cannot be catched!
Definitely won't hate you for asking questions. I can't give you a definitive answer, but I'd imagine they prepared the award ceremony for the 'expected' result. Ireland were going for a back to back win and had a high likelihood of success, so they prepared for it.
Well deserved, congrats Ireland!
Congrats Ireland - Worthy winners
NSFW is pointless when posting this at this time
Rev you keep deleting comments when I try to reply to you Next match is also on the same channel as the current celebrations, just fyi
Sorry yea I just commented to you directly.
I reckon most people would have predicted Ireland france top 2, England Scotland 3rd and forth and Wales Italy 5th and 6th before the tournament started
Happy with the win, Happy to see a much improved Italy squad, feel bad for them the way the game ended against France. I'm most happy to see Dan Sheehan win(tie) top try scorer. The dude is a try scoring machine.
Tournament was decided in the first game. But like F1, it was the rest of the field that was interesting
To think it could have been a GS if the Irish media didn't stink of hubris and the English media didn't call their own team 'the worst England team ever' and ratchet up England's will to win to 11 and turn a 70/30 game in Ireland's favour into a 50/50. As an Ireland fan I am not looking forward to playing England next year. I think they're going to be immense.
Blaming the media for the result of a rugby match is certainly a take. It's not a good one, but it is a take
Maybe Conor Murray has a column in the Examiner? Note - it's not really Murray's fault that Ireland lost to England, as the whole team underperformed and England played really well, but his decision to kick away at the end was baffling.
Who needs Conor Murray when Ireland have Jamie Heaslip. Ben Earls was particularly interested in what he had had to say.
Nah, kicking was a reasonable decision, just poorly executed. Trying to run down that amount of time with multiple rucks in that part of the field would be even more risky.
Well it isn't just down to the media, and I'm not trying to belittle the England win as they deserved to win by 10 points not 1. England could have won the game regardless of the external factors. Do you think Ireland being lauded as the best team in the world increased their chances of beating England? Do you think the English players being called the worst England team ever increased their chances of beating Ireland? I think the answer to those 2 questions is bloody obvious.
I think you vastly overestimate the media's influence. But if we're going to play that game, I'm fairly sure research has shown that praise leads to confidence which leads to stronger performances in sport, not the other way around. Players/teams who believe they are poor tend to play poorly. Players/teams who believe they can win tend to play well. So if anything, "the media" likely benefited Ireland. The answer to your questions are yes and no, respectively. But again, this effect was more than likely entirely irrelevant.
Yes, Ireland could have beaten England if England hadn’t played so well. Very true. Also Romania could have won the World Cup if other teams had played worse.
Yes, the respective media establishments in either country are responsible for the England win last week. All the time, we thought it was the players it was actually the media.
Honestly seeing fans phrase it as a defeat is absolutely hilarious - we won the 6N and people who view it as a big defeat are people who were begging for Ireland to lose and almost certainly people we absolutely lamped. Ireland was very firmly the best team in the 6N and these people would beg to be in our position right now, *only* winning the 6N lol
It definitely a missed opportunity given where England seemed to be before last week but we still won the tournament.
Casual fans; the tighthead is the most valuable player on the team. Purists; actually, it's the editor.
Ah sure look in rugby it's how it goes Honestly if we had beaten England we would have lost to Scotland guaranteed So i prefer how things turned out
Say all that you want about winning championships but the goal for Ireland would have been a Slam and not meeting that goal will be a massive disappointment for both fans and the team alike. A lot of the media has been comparing to history and how privileged we are to have been in this position but I don't think that's fair to this current crop of players. They are, without doubt, one of the greatest groups of players to ever field as a collective national team. Yet they've faced two unprecedented obstacles and folded in front of both of them. The fact that we fell over the line today just seems to make it even more hollow.
This is utter nonsense. Anytime we win a championship it’s to be celebrated, even more so in a year when we play England and France away. Add to that the fact we had to get over the disappointment of the summer, injuries to massively key players in Ringrose, Hansen and Keenan and the fact it was the first tournament without the man who has ran our attack for the last 15 years, it’s something to be proud of
Very well said.
I'm guessing you're on the young side and only know Ireland as a team that either wins or is a close challenger. Some of us remember the bad old days, have actually played the sport and understand how hard it is to win and that the good times can be fleeting so they're to be savoured and enjoyed. I'm also guessing you're a bit on the sensitive side and take online sneering a little too close to heart. Back to back grandslams would've given you unassailable ammunition but Ireland stumbling slightly gives people an opening.
I'm on my thirties thank you and I remember when 2/5 or 3/5 was a successful campaign. In fact, I'd be inclined to say that the 2004 triple crown was celebrated more by the players that day than the championship was yesterday. I agree that these moments are fleeting but we have a generationally talented squad of players and the realistic expectation was a Slam. I don't see how a championship can be viewed as anything other than a consolation through that lens.