Brian O’Driscoll and Austin Healey insist that this Ireland outfit have regressed since the 2023 Rugby World Cup and could be vulnerable in the Six Nations.
Simon Easterby’s men go into the upcoming tournament as one of the favourites after claiming the title over the past two years.
They won the Grand Slam in 2023 before lifting the trophy a year later with four victories in five matches.
Ireland’s subpar November displays
That set up a solid year for the Irishmen, who drew the series with the Springboks in South Africa and won three of their four Autumn Nations Series contests, but those displays in November 2024 raised concern.
And O’Driscoll does not believe that they are quite hitting the same heights they were in 2022 and 2023 after their subpar performances late last year.
“There’s still some hang-up, there’s something left there going, ‘are we quite the same team that we were in the World Cup in 2023’,” he said on TNT Sports.
Former England star Healey agreed, stating that opponents are now not fearful of taking on Ireland.
“In the past 18 months, there’s been a fear to play Ireland. They can beat you at the breakdown, they’ve got an amazing pace game in terms of their ruck and then they’ve got [Jamison] Gibson-Park, who can do anything in the red zone,” he said.
“There’s [James] Lowe scoring tries out of nothing. They were creating something out of nothing on numerous occasions.
“In the autumn I went to every one of those games and if I had been on the opposition facing them now in the next game, I wouldn’t have the same fear factor.”
O’Driscoll asked why that could be and Healey felt that other teams may have got wise to their tactics, particularly in attack.
“I think other sides, like you said earlier, have worked them out a little bit. They worked out if you stand off defensively and let them play, they don’t really take you on as much,” he said.
“I don’t think they’re getting the ball wide as efficiently as they were previously – they’re not a threat.”
Six Nations schedule
Healey doesn’t believe that other aspects of Ireland’s game plan have fallen off, such as their kicking game which “is always excellent”, while they also excel in the “aerial game.”
However, the nature of the Six Nations means that opinions can change very quickly, with the opening couple of weekends absolutely vital.
Particularly for England, who face the Irish before hosting France, their title hopes could well be decided after the February 8 clash against Les Bleus.
“The beauty about this tournament is that with those first two games, if England go away and win their first game, they go back to Twickenham and they play France,” Healey added.
“If they win their first two games, they then become favourites for the tournament. Conversely, if they lose in Dublin and they lose at Twickenham, we’ll be talking about [head coach Steve] Borthwick getting the sack.”
O’Driscoll also claims that the same could apply to Ireland. Although they face France later in the tournament, they follow up their game against England with a trip to Murrayfield.
“We’re in the same boat. If we win the first one, fantastic, but if you lose, you then have to go to Edinburgh and we know how good Scotland are there at the moment and how much they’re licking their lips,” the Ireland legend said.
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ex-england-star-claims-ireland-have-lost-the-fear-factor-while-brian-odriscoll-remains-concerned-by-world-cup-hang-up
