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Next Saturday’s Six Nations decider between Wales and Ireland will not only decide the winners of this year’s Championship, Triple Crown and Grand Slam, it will also, depending on the outcome, either confirm the Irish team as the greatest ever to represent its country or leave them open to the charge that they are the latest in a long line of “nearly men”.
The achievements of the Irish team over the first ten seasons of the Six Nations Championship are remarkable when compared with the general level of success, or lack of it, of the teams that went before it.
Ireland shares, with France, the best overall winning ratio of all six teams in the championship over the past decade, what our American cousins with their mangled form of English would call “the winningest” record of the championship.
Both Ireland and France have played 49 6N matches so far, won 35, lost 14, drew none and coincidentally have scored exactly the same number of tries, 131 each.
Against the giants of the southern hemisphere too, this Irish side has over achieved since 2000 by its own standards.
It has twice beaten Australia, something Ireland hadn’t done since 1979, and twice beaten South Africa, whom it had last defeated in 1965.
Furthermore, Ireland’s record margins of victory against all major teams, with two exceptions, have been set or equalled since 2000. The exceptions being New Zealand, whom Ireland has never beaten, and France, against whom the record victory was set back in 1913.
If that sounds paltry, then it should be remembered that England, Scotland and Wales also posted their record victories over France before the First World War, a feat which says more about France’s weakness at the time than the strength of the Home Countries.
For all that, and despite the presence in the side over the decade of some of Ireland’s greatest ever players like Wood, O’Driscoll and O’Connell, the fact is that Ireland hasn’t actually won anything since it last captured the old Five Nations Championship in 1985.
Unless you include the now hopelessly devalued and anachronistic Triple Crown, which used to be the be-all and end-all, but which is now only half a championship.
That could be rectified on Saturday.
But the gap between victory and defeat would be great. Any victory for Wales would rob Ireland of the Slam and Triple Crown and a margin of 13 points would give Wales the championship as well.
Despite their abject performance against England on Sunday, France are unlikely to lose to Italy in their last match and so a Welsh victory would see France overtake Ireland in the overall performance rankings for the Six Nations.
It could all come down, as any one-match decider does, to the width of a post.
But then, as the Duke of Wellington, a Dubliner born and raised a few hundred yards from where I currently sit, said about the most decisive victory to which he contributed: “The Battle of Waterloo was a damned close-run thing.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.