Irish Rugby

Ireland Rugby 2023 review

The year 2023 was an exciting and and promising year for Irish rugby team. It was a year that many Irish rugby fans had high hopes for Ireland to reach new heights in winning a Grand Slam and reaching their first Rugby world cup quarter final . With a blend of experienced veterans and promising young talents, the Irish squad had the potential to achieve great success after the back of a first ever historic win in New Zealand and wins against South Africa in the autumn. Now I am going to review Ireland's 2023 rugby season, highlighting key moments, strengths, and areas for improvement.

 

Strengths:

Talented Squad: Ireland entered the 2023 season with a talented and well-balanced squad. Experienced players like Johnny Sexton, Peter O'Mahony, and James Ryan provided leadership, while the emergence of young talents like Caelan Doris and Ryan Baird injected vitality into the team.

1. Strong Set Pieces: Ireland continued to excel in the set pieces, particularly in the scrum and lineout. The front row, led by Tadhg Furlong, was formidable, and this laid a solid foundation for their attacking play for the likes of Johnny Sexton to get quick ball out to his outside backs such as Mack Hansen.

2. Strategic Kicking: The half-back pairing of Johnny Sexton and Jamison Gibson Park displayed their usual tactical excellence. Their ability to control the game with their strategic kicking was a valuable asset, allowing Ireland to gain territorial advantage and put pressure on opponents.

3. Strong Defense: Ireland's defense remained a strong suit, with the team showing great discipline and organization. They frustrated many opponents and kept the scores close in tight contests in conceding very few try's.

Key Moments:

Six Nations: Obviously winning the Grand Slam was a significant key moment for Ireland this year, but big wins including Six Nations wins against France and Scotland two very key moments that resulted in Ireland Grand Slam winning success. The win against France was a real statement win as France at the time were on a 13 game unbeaten run and had many quality players which included the worlds best player Antoine Dupont.

Rugby World Cup: The highlight of Ireland Rugby World cup season was undoubtedly the win against world Champions South Africa where Ireland turned up and matched South Africa physicality and intensity to come out on the winning side. Players like Johnny Sexton, Caelon Dorris all stepped up in that win. Other key moments in world cup in Ireland was the demolition of Scotland in the last pool match which led to Scotland getting knocked out of the world cup.

Areas for Improvement:

To be honest it is very hard to find much weakness in Ireland play in 2023 as at times they looked unbeatable. Going by the world cup some of main weakness was their line out and is something that they would like to improve on for the 2024 six nations as the line out was Ireland main weakness shown at the world cup.

In conclusion, Ireland's 2023 rugby season was season that started so brightly but ended the must heartbreaking way that you could ask for. The challenge for Andy Farrell is make sure that Ireland maintain and bring the consistency the had shown in the early stages of 2023 into 2024. The loss of captain Johnny Sexton will obliviously be a big loss to Ireland this gives other young fly half's across Ireland to get an opportunity to show what they are about and what they can do to drive Ireland further in the future.