Josh van der Flier says France inherited Ireland's strengths from before they were eliminated from the World Cup – Irish Times

As history has shown, staying in the Six Nations is never easy, especially as a Grand Slam champion. Five years ago, as Ireland began their 2018 Six Nations and Grand Slam title defense, they were derailed by a British tank at the Aviva Stadium. As Joe Schmidt later admitted, the loss left them “a little devastated.”

There are still four rounds left in the 2024 Six Nations, and history will be made against Ireland. Since the championship was expanded to six countries at the turn of the millennium, a defending champion has held the title only five times, and during that time they have never won consecutive Grand Slams.

But this current Irish team is a very well-rounded machine and got off to a very convincing start last Friday night when they claimed a record-breaking 38-17 win on French soil in Marseille. So now you might think that there is nothing more to it than a second Grand Slam. Like an anticlimax.

Bearing in mind the unpredictability of the Six Nations, part of their challenge will be managing their own and the nation's fast-paced expectations. Likewise, they can't help but be excited about what they can accomplish in the future.

Josh van der Flier agrees: “That's true,” but tries to keep it real. “So we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, we still have four big games left so we're going to take it step by step.

“I know we always say that, but it's still the essence. We can't get ahead of ourselves. But it was a great start, so we have to be very happy.”

Magical Irish Night in Marseille

The Irish flanker also said: “Any team playing away in France is always a very difficult place to play, whether it's for club or country, and it's a very special day for Ireland to do it.

“Obviously things have changed a little bit now that they’re down to 14 people, but [we’re] I'm really satisfied. I thought it was a great effort. We looked threatened the entire time. I think our attack went very well, and we were able to corner the opponent quite a bit defensively. Well, I'm very happy about that. ”

Ireland only committed six turnovers in the match, limiting France's own put-ins to just two scrums in the process, but as impressive as the team's performance was, moving forward from the World Cup It was their mentality. Unsurprisingly, Andy Farrell lived up to his word in this regard.

“One of the things I've found that's great is that a lot of the stories are about a new start, a new cycle, or something else,” van der Flier said of the outside noise. Told. “But given the way we've approached the last few weeks, that hasn't been the case. It's just, 'Well, what did we learn from New Zealand?' What did we do well? Were you doing it? The team has largely continued from its current situation.

“I think we're still learning along the way and I feel like the World Cup was a stepping stone to keep moving forward and keep improving. That's why Andy has been driving with us. That's a great way to think, and that definitely helped.”

It was also important that the home side and crowd alike maintained their composure as they twice rallied and pushed Ireland to seven points.

Van der Flier admitted that he had been warned in advance that this injury was most likely to occur, adding: I thought, given Gary Keegan's work as a psychologist and the way the coach talked about the atmosphere, that's something we talked about.

“You're kind of prepared for those things, and Pete's leadership is [O’Mahony], I thought he was great on Friday. There were times when they scored and the crowd went wild and it was a pretty close game, but they didn't make a sound. He was just calm and just told us to get back on track and gave us a clear message.

[ Gerry Thornley: Andy Farrell’s prowess as a selector in stark contrast to poorly coached France ]

“I think it was from a leadership standpoint, but we talked about it and it's something we're working on and we're in a good position. But it's one of those things and we have to continue to work on it. If you don't deal with it for a week, things can go a little against you at that point.

“But I think it’s definitely been a strength for us over the last few years, and we’ll continue to strive for it.”

The Irish flanker also admitted that the introduction of three young players – Jack Crowley, Joe McCarthy and Calvin Nash – had energized the rest of the squad.

“Fair play to Jack. It's a difficult position to play at any time, but I don't mind the French attacking hard. He did really well. Joe was great as always, destroying the maul. , ran hard, and Calvin ran really, really well as well. I was so proud of those three guys. They really made a huge difference.”

Despite being 30 years old himself and with more than half a century of caps under his belt, Van der Flier did not feel the need to have a personal conversation with McCarthy in the build-up to the 22-year-old's Six Nations debut. Ta.

“Not really, no. He's a great young man. He's got his head on his shoulders,” he said before being asked about McCarthy's hairstyle.

“Nice haircut, yeah. It's an ambitious thing, that mullet, but in fairness to himself he's worked hard on it and as you can see, he's very proud of it.”