International reaction: Ireland praised for retaining Six Nations title in style

The Sydney Morning Herald

website chose not to put their own twist on the headline of the syndicated copy from England’s

Daily Telegraph

, that summed up Ireland’s outright victory in the

Six Nations

Championship under the headline “

Ireland

shed inhibitions to prove

World Cup

credentials”.

The English paper's colour writer Oliver Brown liked what he saw in Ireland's 40-10 win over Scotland at Murrayfield, offering the following overview. "When it mattered most, Ireland remembered how to entertain again. They had threatened to go through this Six Nations as austere automatons, respected rather than loved for their defensive frugality, but for one afternoon only they unleashed their buccaneering side.

“With a performance emphatically affirming their credentials to win this autumn’s World Cup, they brushed off accusations of a one-dimensional approach by proving that they could win any way they chose.”

How Ireland would love the parallel that Brown drew to be correct next autumn when he ventured that: “It is such versatility that makes them so dangerous. When England hoisted the Webb Ellis trophy aloft in 2003, they had won three of these championships in four years. The Irish find themselves in that same auspicious form. First the Six Nations, now the world.”

In the same English newspaper, celebrated former Scotland and Lions coach Ian McGeechan enthused in his column: “Ireland proved they could mix it up, introducing width and an offloading game. But they can also play in tight, they are physical at the breakdown and have a great kicking game.”

Finding more than a perfunctory acknowledgment of the Six Nations in the main Australian and New Zealand print media was a challenge of sorts, if understandable given their preoccupation with the Super 15. The New Zealand Herald did put a localised slant on AAP copy under the headline "Ireland's Six Nations win delights Kiwi coach".

On South Africa’s Sport24 website, Joe Schmidt’s reaction to his team’s double victory in Edinburgh was billeted under the headline “Finale leaves Schmidt exhausted”.

Cunning and flair

French sports newspaper

L’Equipe

announced that

“L’Irlande garde sont titre”

(Ireland retain their title) while in another story under the heading

“De la ruse et du flair

” (cunning and flair), they carried a message of congratulations from Taoiseach Enda Kenny to Paul O’Connell and his team.

Mind you, L'Equipe was a little preoccupied in analysing France's thumping at Twickenham but they did go on to single out Ireland's Robbie Henshaw as a young player who confirmed his burgeoning reputation going into the tournament with performances that grew through the five matches.

The French website rugbyrama.fr acknowledged in a headline that “after 66 years of trying Ireland finally managed to win back-to-back championships”.

Wales on Sunday offered the banner headline, 'At Least We Beat The Champs,' to cover the disappointment of missing out on the title despite a second-half performance in Rome that took them to the cusp before coming up agonisingly short on points difference.

The Sunday Times celebrated Ireland's triumph in a very positive tone, although rugby correspondent Stephen Jones was moved to offer some mitigation, complaining that England were operating under a massive disadvantage "because Italy and Scotland were so token in their opposition in the other games, and France, by contrast, were superb".

Team of the tournament

He also included four Italians in his team of the tournament, just two Irish players, Robbie Henshaw and Peter O’Mahony, and French tighthead

Nicolas Mas

, who only played 100 minutes across two matches. His prerogative.

The Observer carried a picture on the front page of their sports section of Ireland captain Paul O'Connell holding the Six Nations trophy aloft above a banner headline "Stars of the Show". In his colour piece, Andy Bull said that: "Ireland deserved the title. They won it with one of the great performances in their history."

Describing O’Connell’s try, he wrote: “What a magnificent, bloody-minded beast he is, a man who has experienced enough disappointment in his career to know just how important it is to take the chances when they come.”

The paper proclaimed that “Green party starts after nervous wait for the crown” over the match report by Mike Averis, while the heading over Eddie Butler’s piece carried a message of hope for the northern hemisphere in the upcoming global tournament suggesting, “A clear message for the World Cup: European nations can play adventurous rugby too”.