Conveyor belt of talent holds to the key to this new Irish rugby dynasty after Andy Farrell’s side secured back-to-back Six Nations titles

Andy Farrell spent Saturday morning on the touchline of a Dublin junior rugby pitch, watching his son play for the Blackrock College under-13s in their victory over St Michael’s College.

It was fitting that he did so on the day Ireland established itself as the rugby nation par excellence on our islands.

The Irish coach’s motivations were of course paternal. He was delighted to recount on Saturday evening how he had told his boy, Gabriel, that Blackrock’s victory had put some pressure on him “because imagine you win and we don’t!” “. But the strength of the country’s junior rugby partly explains why Ireland pulled away just hours later and won back-to-back Six Nations titles for the third time in their history. The Emerald Isle may have lost to England, but they still beat them to the crown with a fraction of their player base and a fraction of their money. It has become Europe’s most remarkable rugby nation by developing talent like no other.

The commitment to schools rugby, with yesterday’s Leinster Senior Cup between the same two schools televised in Ireland, feeds players into the academy systems run by the four professional teams – Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht. Every euro is spent with the ultimate goal of making the Irish team successful. When Blackrock tweeted his congratulations to the victorious Irish team yesterday, he made a special mention of the six members of Farrell’s team who are among his former pupils: Hugo Keenan, Garry Ringrose, Caelan Doris, Joe McCarthy, Jeremy Loughman and Oli Jager.

Ireland’s success is not limited to this. The decision to give their high performance czar, David Nucifora, the authority to hire and fire the coaches of the four professional teams, as well as assist in the recruitment and retention of players, would not sit well with all nations. But it paid dividends on Saturday against Scotland. It’s not just the system that puts Ireland at the top of the table. It takes an exceptional coach to bring egos and personalities together so that the team’s marketing message, #weareteam, is appropriate.

Captain Peter O’Mahony spoke to Ireland head coach Andy Farrell after the match.

When Farrell held a press conference here with captain Peter O’Mahony on Saturday evening, the two men spoke on an equal footing, deferring to the other in turns.

This supports Farrell’s assertion that the Irish leadership set the tone, week in and week out, throughout this tournament. “They take control of the feeling of the week, how they need to take control of it,” he said.

It was a very different look when Scotland coach Gregor Townsend and captain Finn Russell sat down to discuss their tournament. Russell spoke, left the room and Townsend was then asked which parts he agreed with.

The management was not all light on Farrell’s part. He was the one on trial when natural evolution forced him to change 20 percent of his starting XV at the start of this tournament.

His decision to trust Jack Crowley to replace Johnny Sexton paid off handsomely. Crowley played every minute of the Irish tournament and wore that No.10 jersey lightly.

“You know what, I was hard on him,” Farrell said of Crowley. “And Jack will tell you.” It’s easy to read the press and get carried away with, “I’m doing it and I’m doing great.”

“But we kept our feet on the ground because we have to understand that that’s not it.” We’re looking for something better than that.

The Irish project is most relevant to Wales, a nation staring into an existential abyss today, just as Ireland was 12 years ago when a 60-0 humiliation against the All Blacks at Hamilton reinforced their belief that they needed to set this course.

Farrell’s faith in Jack Crowley to replace Johnny Sexton paid off

Ireland’s head coach is hoping for better things to come following their latest Six Nations triumph.

Are there even better things to come, Farrell was asked. “I certainly hope so,” he said.

He was excited to hear a French journalist say that he too had gone to see that junior match on Saturday.

“It’s huge,” Farrell told him. “Did you feel the rivalry, the competitiveness from the under-13s this morning? It’s magnificent, isn’t it?

“That’s what makes Irish rugby so special.”