Ireland still in a healthy place despite the loss of peerless Sexton

The World Cup was a gut-wrenching anticlimax and, while he defied time better than any Irish rugby player before him, even Johnny Sexton had to accept that he couldn’t go on forever.

The cupboard is unproven at outhalf, and somewhat lacking in depth elsewhere, not least in the back three, as Mack Hansen’s injury has exposed.

Yet in the fallout from le Mondial, even if England actually went a step further, it’s easy to forget that this remains the core of the side that has won 17 of its last 18 Test matches.

While Wayne Barnes harshly pinged Andrew Porter at three of the All Blacks’ five quarter-final put-ins, John Fogarty admits the pictures being painted for officials are a concern. So too the lineout, and the wobbles in the Grand Slam campaign became more deep-rooted in the warm-up games and then proved costly in the World Cup.

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This being a World Cup season, nor does Ireland’s careful player management carry the same advantages in freshness as in the other three seasons in the cycle – as evidenced in the strikingly similar amount of minutes this season with their French counterparts prior to tonight’s game.

Indeed, several of those called upon most often in the World Cup have looked a little weary, or at any rate have yet to scale those heights since, among them Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Bundee Aki and Hugo Keenan. Dan Sheehan and Caelan Doris are honourable exceptions, and world-class, while, by contrast, some with lighter loads, noticeably Joe McCarthy and Ryan Baird, have taken their games to another level.

Yet, no less than Les Bleus and despite how the teams with less possession and who kicked more flourished in the knock-out stages of the World Cup, Ireland don’t seem set for turning from their possession-based, passing game.

Allowing for how Finn Russell and also Matthieu Jalibert can go off script, Ireland also have had the most nuanced attacking game in the tournament for the last two seasons, even more so than the more prescriptive French.

In Sexton’s absence, Peter O’Mahony is the outstanding candidate to lead the team on the field, even if he has only gone the full 80 minutes once this season. But Ireland are less likely to fall away in an endgame without his presence as happened to Munster against Northampton.

Now it remains to be seen how well Jack Crowley can pull the strings at outhalf, but this day had to come and, with Ross Byrne also injured, the 24-year-old from Bandon has risen to the top of the pecking order on merit.

It will also help Crowley no end that he’ll have so many experienced, high-achieving players around him and that this team have built up so many high standards in the last two-plus years. Uber-disciplined, they had the lowest penalty count and were the only team who did not incur a single card in last season’s Championship.

What’s more, for all the plaudits which their attack generates, this Irish side take the most pride in their defence and no team restricted the opposition to smaller returns from entries into their 22.

Along with France, they look like remaining the principal standard-bearers.

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Coach: Andy Farrell.

Captain: Peter O’Mahony.

One to watch: Jack Crowley. So much hinges on how the 24-year-old assumes the mantle at ‘10′, not least as Ireland don’t have the kind of experienced back-up to call upon as when David Humphreys, Ronan O’Gara and Johnny Sexton were in turn blooded at this level. But he has the game and the personality to do so, and perhaps even a more varied and inventive short-range kicking game. And he also comes from the same school of tackling outhalves as his great predecessor.

Prospects: As with Crowley, so much hinges on the opening game too, almost excessively. Put it another way, France are marginally ahead of Ireland in the betting with both teams priced fairly short. So whoever win’s tonight’s potentially decisive curtain-raiser will presumably be odds-on to then go on and claim the title.

That would certainly be true of Ireland, who would then have three home games to come as well as, admittedly, a tough-looking trek to Twickenham albeit against a somewhat reconstructed English side.

Even if a defeat tonight would end their hopes of becoming the first Irish side to win back-to-back Grand Slams, they would still have every chance of remaining in the title mix until the last weekend (Andy Farrell’s basic objective again) for the fourth year running.

Forecast: 2nd.

Schedule

Round one

Friday, February 2nd: France v Ireland, (9pm local time/8pm Irish), Stade Velodrome, Marseille.

Round Two

Sunday, February 11th: Ireland v Italy (3pm), Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

Round Three

Saturday, February 24th: Ireland v Wales, (2.15pm), Aviva Stadium, Dublin.

Round Four

Saturday, March 9th: England v Ireland (4.45pm), Twickenham Stadium, Cardiff.

Round Five

Saturday, March 16th: Ireland v Scotland (4.45pm), Aviva Stadium, Dublin.