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Why Ireland-France was no World Cup final
By Ben Smith
The opening game of the 2024 Six Nations has been described as the ‘World Cup final everyone wanted’ between the top two ranked teams heading into the tournament last September.
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While clearly not going to be everyone’s desired final, Ireland’s 38-17 win over France on Friday night in Marseille was not what would have been four months ago.
Had these two nations faced off in last year’s final, that game would have played out very differently to what we saw in Marseille.
The closest similarity to the World Cup final was that one side had 14 men for most of the match, yet Ireland showed South Africa what you ought to do when your opponent is down a man.
These two sides were different outfits to the ones seen last year, more so France, who were rather aimless without superstar Antoine Dupont.
Ireland were missing Johnny Sexton, a figurehead of the 2023 team, but felt the effect far less.
The 2023 editions of both Ireland and France are now ghosts of the past, bound to history as World Cup quarter-finalists.
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In addition to both missing big names this year, they are dealing with the inescapable “World Cup hangover”.
The emotive state of the sides coming off quarter-final exits is not to be discounted. It is real and must be dealt with, especially with the dizzying expectations attached to both.
With that context this match cannot be considered on par with two sides right up for a fight for the ultimate prize.
Friday night showed that France really haven’t awaken from the migraine-thumping slumber of their home World Cup failure.
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That downer emotional state showed, they were not up to it, despite a charged home crowd atmosphere in Marseille.
The mental state of the French players threatens to spiral them backward. Such is the perceived injustice of the World Cup exit, France appear to have lost their edge.
Ireland, a process-driven clinical side that thrives on detail, were able to put up a worthy performance however they weren’t met with much resistance from a lacklustre French outfit.
Even when it was 15 on 15, Ireland were up 17-3 before Willemse earned a second yellow card, later upgraded to a red.
How far Ireland have put last year’s disappointment behind them will be further tested this week, but perhaps hubris is the biggest danger.
Former Ireland players talked of a “lack of excitement” over such a big win against France.
Expectations for this Ireland side have been lifted to such grandiose levels it didn’t register on the dopamine scale.
We heard “it didn’t mean as much” with a Grand Slam already in the cabinet from last year, and the only thing to get excited about is a tour to South Africa in July.
It’s now predicted that Ireland will sweep the rest of Europe en route to a Grand Slam. That would be quite presumptuous after just one round.
Ireland’s set-piece will dominate the Italians and ultimately see them home, but the Azzurri have more hunger in them than France.
They ripped into a poor England side and should have got the result.
Hopefully for Ireland’s sake they don’t turn up with more hunger than those in green jerseys.
Ireland’s World Cup hangover might not be cured so easily with a feed of fried Chook.
Ben Smith is right about “World Cup hangover” but wow, its been months now and European rugby are still in tears 🤣🤣🤣
The title of this article can simply answered with “simply they weren't the best when it counted.”
Another attempt to paint Ireland as ‘Arrogant’.
“The opening game of the 2024 Six Nations has been described as the ‘World Cup final everyone wanted’ between the top two ranked teams heading into the tournament last September”: Maybe one person somewhere described it as that but anyone mentioning a World cup final used teh word COULD not SHOULD.
“Former Ireland players talked of a “lack of excitement” over such a big win against France.” Actually, Ireland was buzzing.
“Expectations for this Ireland side have been lifted to such grandiose levels it didn’t register on the dopamine scale.” Thats Bullsh1t
“We heard “it didn’t mean as much” with a Grand Slam already in the cabinet from last year, and the only thing to get excited about is a tour to South Africa in July.” Thats more Bullsh1t.
“It’s now predicted that Ireland will sweep the rest of Europe en route to a Grand Slam. That would be quite presumptuous after just one round.” Some pundits have speculated that Ireland are favourites most have said it’s too early to call.
“Ireland’s set-piece will dominate the Italians and ultimately see them home, but the Azzurri have more hunger in them than France.” France were plenty hungry and devastaed with the result. Didn’t he watch the match?
“They ripped into a poor England side and should have got the result.” England controlled the second half. They almost went over the line at the end to make it 34-17. Italy countered to close to within 3 with the clock in the red. “The result” was long out of their reach.
“Hopefully for Ireland’s sake they don’t turn up with more hunger than those in green jerseys.” What kind of an idiotic comment is this?
12-11 that’s all that matters. The rest is just talk.
To be fair, Ireland proved once again they are clearly the best team in the world.
And Barnes is clearly both the BEST bok and AB simultaneously for shitty inferior SH sides.
Another weak column from Rugby Passes weakest contributor.
Couldn’t resist the little jibe at the Boks😂 IRE showed SA what they ought to have done and SA showed IRE how to progress past the QF and win the whole thing!
IRE also wasn’t down to 14 men for 20mins nor did IRE have to replace Sheehan with a 38yr old flanker after 3mins into the match….context can be such a schlep😴
As always, boring!! Should really do something else with your time - Ben Smith.
Quite the colorful commentary, but it seems like someone's still feeling the sting of a certain team's victory.