Rory O'Connor

Beat South Africa in South Africa that summer in a kind of a...

what may well end up being the last thing of the dying wasp, for probably want of a better phrase, the last year, since November 2024, it's been poor.

And it's been, there's been little moments where they've given glimpses of what they used to be like, but they're getting further and further away from the team they were in 2023.

And I know we've talked a little bit about 2027 and what happens after 2027 in terms of Farrell's future and other people.

And I think there's kind of a,

Feeling out there that it'll be on Andy Farrell's terms that he gets to choose whether it's him or not.

I don't see how that's the case if the Six Nations doesn't go his way.

I think he's on very solid ground now because of what all of these he's achieved.

And I don't think there's any great will in the RFU to put him under pressure.

But say if they lose their both away games and slip up once at home, say to a Scotland on final day, I think that shifts the picture massively for this Ireland team and this Ireland management because they have been so conservative with their selection.

They're still picking players who are out of form.

I was doing a piece on the squad, which kind of made some of the same points as our reader, our listener there.

I mean, you start listing out all the things that are wrong with the team in terms of their discipline, their kind of inability to get kind of going and attack, their confusion around the number 10 position, their increasingly leaky defense, their set piece woes, both the scrum and line out.

The list of things they have to fix is very concerning.

And that's why I think not a lot of people are looking forward to Six Nations outside of the fact that they like the Six Nations as a tournament.

I'd say this is the least optimistic Irish people have been about a Six Nations since 2021.

And maybe he'll surprise us all because he has a great record as a coach and has done a great job and has turned things around before.

But right now I think he's in a tricky spot and he needs to find a solution and he needs at least one big win.

Like he beats France and Paris, the mood music changes and we'll all flip.

But right now you'd be worried about them going into this.