Opinion: France hiding should signal ‘end of an era’ for Ireland as Andy Farrell must be ‘ruthless’ or risk ‘rude awakening’ at Rugby World Cup
Ireland were well beaten by France on Saturday.
All great things must come to an end.
This is never more true when it comes to sport, when an era of dominance or a golden generation must call time and allow the next generation to hopefully build upon their legacy as age catches up to everyone.
Irish rugby has enjoyed a 21-year period of silverware, when they lifted the Triple Crown in 2004, after a barren period following their 1985 Five Nations championship.
Until the turn of the century, Ireland would struggle in the competition, finishing in the bottom two throughout the 1990s, while collecting four wooden spoons in this decade.
Successful period
The decision to promote youthful talents of Peter Stringer, Ronan O’Gara, and Brian O’Driscoll, to name a few, saw a change of fortune with Ireland bringing in a successful period that would result in a Grand Slam in 2009.
The pinnacle for this squad.
However, head coach Declan Kidney would fail to prepare and slowly bring quality youthful players to help maximise the talents of the aging players that had been central to this Irish squad for the last decade.
Modern Irish rugby would reach its nadir in Rome, 2013, when they lost to Italy for the first time in the championship, after a tough and tired campaign.
This would spell the end of Kidney’s tenure and bring about changes to the squad.
Joe Schmidt was the perfect man to do this following his success at Leinster, kicking off a 10-year period of Irish domination in the Six Nations as the Boys In Green have claimed five titles, two of which were Grand Slams, in a decade.
Ireland advertised the weekend as the ‘End of an Era’ as Cian Healy, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray played their final game at the Aviva Stadium, three players that started the infamous match against Italy in 2013.
It was not a joyful send-off as Ireland suffered a humbling 42-27 defeat to France, a side many believe will dominate the championship for the next decade.
This essentially brought Ireland’s chance to make history with three Six Nations titles in a row to an end.
And perhaps it is the end of an era for this current iteration of Irish rugby.
The training squad named in the week for the French fixture contained 14 players over the age of 30, with 10 of them playing a part in the match, and James Lowe was set to start, but due to picking up an injury in the warm-up, he was ruled out.
While the 2013 defeat led to loud calls for drastic change, which ultimately started this decade of Irish success, the calls for change this time will be nowhere near as dramatic.
Yet, there should be a pivot towards evolving the team ahead of the next World Cup in 2027.
It would be surprising if the majority of those who are over 30 will still be part of Andy Farrell‘s squad when he takes them to Australia as they look to overcome the quarter-final for the first time.
Should the Lions head coach remain loyal to his current squad, maintaining the status quo, Ireland could be in for a rude awakening when they travel down under in two years.
Farrell will not want to end his tenure in a similar manner to Eddie O’Sullivan (2007) and Schmidt (2019).
He has shown thus far while at the helm that he is willing to be ruthless and evolve his squad to bring about success, and I expect no different ahead of the 2026 Six Nations championship.
Under his tenure he has given debut caps to Dan Sheehan, Ronan Kelleher, Jamison Gibson-Park, Lowe and now captain, Caelan Doris.
Ireland will not be too worried about replacing their stalwarts as they have done previously, replacing world-class talent like O’Driscoll, O’Gara, and Paul O’Connell with the likes of Garry Ringrose, Jonathan Sexton, and James Ryan.
Promising players
Farrell trusts the talent that is being produced by the Irish system, and with Emerging Ireland, there is an opportunity to impress before earning a call-up to the senior squad.
He will surely have kept an eye on the U20s side, who won consecutive Grand Slams in 2022 and 2023, while also finishing runner-up in the 2023 World Cup.
Gus McCarthy and Sam Prendergast have already featured in the senior squad, with others like Ruadhan Quinn, Brian Gleeson and Hugh Cooney starting to star at club level.
While the defeat to France will have been disappointing to Irish fans and essentially handed the trophy to Les Bleus, it could have a bigger impact on Ireland.
It should signify the ‘End of an Era’ for this current Irish team and herald in a new side to carry on the legacy built over the last decade.
by Brendan McGilligan
