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Ireland win Six Nations after long wait when England fall short Ireland win Six Nations after long wait when England fall short
(about 2 hours later)
If last season’s dash for the tape ended with Brian O’Driscoll adding one more bit of silver to his considerable collection, then the man with whom he shared the Irish captaincy for much of a decade left Murrayfield for the last time on a Six Nations night with a Six Nations trophy, a winner’s medal around his neck and the praises of his coach ringing in his ears, after England fell a converted try short against France of overhauling the points-difference. Last season’s dash for the tape ended with Brian O’Driscoll adding one more piece of silver to a considerable collection, and the man with whom he shared the Irish captaincy for much of a decade left Murrayfield for the last time on a Six Nations night with a championship trophy, a winner’s medal around his neck and the praises of his coach ringing in his ears.
Paul O’Connell, for whom the match with Scotland was his 101st cap and his 51st in the Six Nations, has a contract with the Irish board until June 2016, but there have been hints that a celebrated Test career could end with this autumn’s World Cup. Certainly he has said he expects any autumn appearance at Twickenham to be his last and the 35-year-old was a long way short of denying this could be his last Six Nations. Paul O’Connell, for whom this was a 101st cap and his 51st in the Six Nations, has a contract with the Irish board until June 2016 but has dropped hints that a celebrated Test career could end with this autumn’s World Cup. Certainly he has said he expects any autumn appearance at Twickenham to be his last and here the 35-year-old was repeatedly a long way short of denying this would be his last Six Nations.
“I don’t know if it is, but to win a championship in any era … it’s been a great eight weeks,” said O’Connell who has added a third Six Nations title the 2009 grand slam. However, this was a bit special because the Munster man scored the try which began the process of setting England a daunting task at Twickenham and ended with him carrying his young son Paddy around Murrayfield covered in a junior sized Irish shirt and embarrassment as the ovation his father was receiving. “I don’t know if it is, but to win a championship in any era … it’s been a great eight weeks,” said O’Connell when first asked the question. Then, after watching France do their best to hand England the title – along with the coach, Joe Schmidt – he added: “If it does finish then it’s a good way to finish and if it doesn’t finish it will be a great memory to have.”
Sean O’Brien, with his two tries, and an all action afternoon, was the official man of the match, but all Murrayfield knew who deserved the award. “He doesn’t know when to quit and that was something we could all see in his actions,” said Schmidt before confessing that last week against Wales might have been the low point of Ireland’s championship-retaining campaign, but he would have torn an arm off if offered the point differential before kick-off. It was probably the only time all day that O’Connell had not been head-on direct in adding a third Six Nations title to the 2009 grand slam while on the way becoming Ireland’s oldest captain and try scorer as Ireland defended their title for the first time since 1949.
“I think we have done enough to come away from this championship proud. We probably have some regrets about last week, but last week’s second-half performance did set us up and today’s second half was quite similar and we managed to get something concrete in those 20 points that could [and did] make the difference.” “I’ve spent a lot of years in close calls, and we’d be very proud of what we’ve done in the last eight weeks, in terms of how we’ve addressed certain things in our performance, in attack, defence and our resolve to come out and produce a good performance like that after losing last week.”
Schmidt, speaking with 50 minutes still left at Twickenham, confessed to being on something of a roller coaster. Arriving at Murrayfield the team had seen Italy scoring against Wales, but on their way out for the warm up the scores had swung and Wales were close to 30 points clear. “It’s difficult, but it was difficult for the English players last year. It’s just a rollercoaster. Normally you have some say in the direction the rollercoaster is going and how many times it’s going to spin, but we’re not even getting on the rollercoaster. We’re staying right away from it and hoping that when it finishes we’re still in front.” After registering his first Test try since November 2006, O’Connell said he would be satisfied with his performance should it prove his last Six Nations. And the day was a bit special because the Munster man not only began the process of setting England a daunting task at Twickenham but ended with the trophy in his arms after carrying his young son Paddy around Murrayfield covered in a junior-sized Irish shirt and huge embarrassment at the ovation his father was receiving.
Sean O’Brien, with his two tries and an all-action afternoon, was the official man of the match, but all Murrayfield knew who deserved the award. “He doesn’t know when to quit and that was something we could all see in his actions,” said Schmidt before confessing that last week against Wales might have been the low point of Ireland’s championship-retaining campaign before “the big fella dragged the group by the neck and luckily that was just enough to get us over the line”.
He added: “I think we have done enough to come away from this championship proud.” The New Zealander now has two Six Nations in two seasons of coaching Ireland and a side who sit third in the world rankings. “We probably have some regrets about last week, but last week’s second-half performance did set us up and today’s second half was quite similar and we managed to get something concrete in those 20 points that could [and did] make the difference for us.”