Why Ireland Will Complete the Grand Slam Following England Win

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: March 4, 2015

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In the wake of their 19-9 victory over England, Ireland can be confident of not only defending their Six Nations title, but also claiming their second Grand Slam triumph in seven years.

The humble coach that he is, Joe Schmidt has been swift to distance his side from any such talk of an unbeaten tournament, per ESPN Scrum's Tom Hamilton, but the inevitable anticipation is building in Dublin:

It's something we haven't talked about [the Grand Slam]. We just put this game into isolation and put the first two games together. A team coming of age is very difficult to quantify as you are always changing slightly.

Today we would have had Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip probably playing a full 80 minutes but instead we had Jordi Murphy and Tommy O'Donnell playing the game. Your team is always changing slightly and I'm no doubt there will be some changes through those last few games.

Schmidt is right to take note of the losses his squad has suffered in recent weeks. Second to England, Ireland have been the second-most unfortunate in regards to key injuries over the past month and depth in resources is a key ingredient to their 100 percent start in the competition.

The aforementioned Murphy did a terrific job in his duties filling in for the injured Heaslip, as have O'Donnell, Ian Keatley and Ian Madigan when asked to step up in the face of some unfortunate absences.



England were always shaping up to be Ireland's biggest obstacle in this year's tournament. A deserved week's rest will be needed ahead of the trip to Cardiff on March 14, but one would be tempted to buy into the mantra that anything England can do, Ireland can do better in their current form.

So impressive have Ireland been en route to a record-equalling 10 wins in succession that even reigning world champions New Zealand have taken notice. Writing for the official All Blacks website, James Mortimer heaped praise on ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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