2022 World Podium – Secondly, this is a very intimidating Ireland

That’s part of the baroque charm of the world rugby rankings: Ireland may have lost two matches in 2022 (against France in the Six Nations and then in New Zealand, marking the first Test of the tour), jumping atop the famous ‘ranking’ of the supreme body when the Blues were unbeaten on Throughout the calendar year but (simply) mediocre Japanese winners on three occasions, they are only Dolphins XV of Clover. But all things considered, is there really anything to shout about stealing? In light of what the Irish have been doing in recent months, no. If Andy Farrell’s debut at the helm of the selection was rather slow, the former English treiziste has since built a winning machine and, without completely throwing it away, has himself moved away from the game that New Zealander Joe Schmidt has developed in his era. Owen Farrell’s dad clearly kept to the rules Schmidt forged (strong foray, perfect footwork, tight defense) while holding his paw there; Indeed, the Irish team, so dull when Schmidt was in charge, is now attractive, as evidenced by the dozens of brilliant game launches Farrell has orchestrated around Johnny Sexton (37), his master at play…

Moreover, Andy Farrell also relies on an exceptional generation examples of which are Josh Van der Vlaer (Best Player in the World), Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan, Robbie Henshaw or Kellan Doris. This wealth, unreal for a country of 4 million people, was also explained by Simon Zeppo, ex-Racingman and now Monster back: “At school all the children play hurling or Gaelic football; it gives them a solid sporting education and a good foundation for all the other disciplines. When they get to rugby, which is the only professional sport in the country, they are immediately very skilful and very good on foot and are not afraid of contact and have Really a very good vision of the game.. my faith…