We look ahead to the 2025 edition of the Championship with our Ireland Six Nations preview. After wins in 2023 and 2024 can the Irish perform the three-peat?
Ireland’s Friday night victory against France in the opening game of the 2024 Six Nations in Marseille installed Andy Farrell’s men as tournament favourites before any other teams had even got their campaign up and running.
However, despite going on to secure a second consecutive Championship and sixth overall in the Six Nations era, there was a slight feeling of disappointment come the end of the tournament.
A last-gasp defeat to England in the penultimate round dashed their hopes of becoming the first team to record back-to-back Grand Slams, while it denied them a record-breaking 12th consecutive victory in the tournament in the process.
This year, Ireland will have the opportunity to win a third straight Championship, a feat no side has achieved in the Six Nations. England, France, Ireland and Wales have all secured back-to-back titles at least once since 2000, but no nation has managed to record the ‘three-peat’.
In fact, going beyond the Six Nations era, no side has ever won three consecutive tournaments outright. Winning more than two in a row has only been achieved when including shared titles – most recently France between 1986 and 1989 (two outright, two shared).
Ireland missed out on back-to-back Grand Slams last year, but can they make history in 2025?
Playing Style
Ireland have arguably had the most consistent playing style over the last 10 years, with the key focus being on possession.
After a disappointing campaign in 2013, when they narrowly avoided the Wooden Spoon on points difference, Joe Schmidt was brought in and transformed Ireland into a possession-dominant team.
In 2013, Declan Kidney’s Ireland averaged the second-fewest carries per game (94, ahead of only Scotland on 67). Since 2014, though, Ireland have averaged the most in nine of the 11 editions of the tournament and ranked second in the two campaigns in which they weren’t top – Farrell’s first two tournaments in charge (2020 and 2021).
But Ireland aren’t afraid to move the ball, either. Only four times has a team averaged 200+ passes per game in a Six Nations campaign with Ireland responsible for all four – twice across Joe Schmidt’s last three tournaments (2017 & 2018) and twice in Farrell’s last three (2022 & 2024).
The combination of relentless carrying and constantly moving the point of attack has proven highly successful for Ireland. Although Farrell will step aside to take on Lions duties this year, it is hard to foresee Ireland’s playing style change dramatically.
The one downside of having such a consistent style is that opposition teams know what to expect when facing Ireland. For the reigning champions, it’s therefore a case of making sure they’re so well drilled that they’re impossible to contain, regardless of what the opposition do defensively.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Ireland’s work at the breakdown has long been a strength, and underpins their ability to carry relentlessly and keep opponents on the back foot. In last year’s Six Nations, Ireland recorded the best ruck success rate, retaining possession at 98% of their attacking breakdowns.
Not only that, but they did so at the greatest speed too, with their rucks taking just 3.6 seconds to complete on average. France (3.7) were the only other team to get under the four-second mark during the tournament.
Ireland’s set-piece also provided a stable platform to attack from during the 2024 tournament. They were the only team to record a scrum success rate of 90% or better (93%), while their 91% success rate at the lineout was the joint best of any team, alongside England. Both sides won 62 of 68 throws).
Another area where Ireland excelled, which could almost be considered another type of set-piece, was the restart kick. Given Ireland were the top scorers in last year’s Championship – both in terms of points and tries – they fielded more restart kicks from halfway than any other side. Despite this, they were one of only two teams to have a 100% success rate from opposition 50-metre restarts, alongside Wales who faced the fewest of any nation (18).
Additionally, Ireland won two of the 13 such restarts they took – a 13% success rate, higher than any other team. Although it is a small part of the game, it is one that is often undervalued, with pundits often lamenting teams that concede possession and immediately put themselves on the back foot after scoring.
Ireland haven’t shown many weaknesses in the last few years, but they did show signs of an uncharacteristic lack of cohesion during the recent Autumn Nations Series. They are usually a team with a low error count, both in terms of penalties and turnovers conceded, but they struggled in both areas during their November internationals.
In their first two games of the autumn, Ireland conceded 26 penalties in total – 13 against New Zealand and another 13 against Argentina. It was the most they’d conceded across a two-game spell since 2021 and the first time they’d conceded 13+ penalties in back-to-back fixtures since doing so in three straight games between 2012 and 2013.
They managed to rectify the penalty count for their remaining two games, but their final match against Australia saw them concede 23 turnovers – the most on record for Ireland since Opta have recorded this data.
If Ireland are to retain their Six Nations title once again, it is critical they reduce their error and penalty count.
Star Players
Ireland’s team is a settled one and boasts top-class players across all positions. In the pack, Josh van der Flier has been one of the hardest-working players in world rugby over the last few years and he showed it again during the 2024 Autumn Nations Series.
The Leinster flanker made 35 carries, 56 tackles and hit 143 rucks, with his combined total of 234 bettered only by Maro Itoje (246) who played almost 40 minutes more.
In fact, breaking those numbers down to a per-80 minute level, Van der Flier averaged 66 carries, tackles and rucks, the most of any player from a Six Nations side.
His teammate and tight-five forward Joe McCarthy will also be an important player for Ireland during the Championship and he will add some real bulk in the Ireland engine room.
McCarthy is a powerful ball carrier, with his ability to draw in tacklers standing out in last year’s tournament. In the 2024 Six Nations, he committed at least two tacklers from 83% of his carries, the best rate of any player who carried the ball on 20+ occasions.
Meanwhile, in the backs, the most important player may well be the one wearing the number 10 jersey. As of now, it’s hard to say who will be the man in that shirt, with two young stars – Jack Crowley and Sam Prendergast – fighting it out for the starting role.
Munster’s Jack Crowley hasn’t done anything to warrant being dropped after playing every minute of Ireland’s title-winning campaign last year. The 25-year-old beat the most defenders (10) and made the most line breaks (2) and offloads (5, level with Finn Russell) of any fly-half during the tournament.
His rival for the fly-half role is Leinster’s Sam Prendergast, who made his debut off the bench in Ireland’s win against Argentina in November, before starting in their final two victories against Fiji and Australia. Despite playing just 154 minutes in Ireland’s autumn internationals, Prendergast showcased his ability to attack the gainline and put teammates through gaps.
In total, he assisted seven line breaks, almost twice as many as any player from any team in the Autumn Nations Series (four players tied on four).
Additionally, although he only faced nine tackles, he evaded two-thirds of those attempted hits – only Antoine Dupont (71%) had a better tackle evasion rate of players to face at least as many tackles as Prendergast. Not bad company.
Will Ireland Win the Six Nations?
Ireland are looking to become the first side to win the Six Nations three times in a row. The Opta supercomputer has Ireland as favourites (62.7% chance) to win this year’s edition, with a 33% chance of doing the Grand Slam.
Ireland Six Nations Fixtures
Round One: 31 January – 1 February
Ireland vs England – Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Round Two: 8-9 February
Scotland vs Ireland – Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Round Three: 22-23 February
Wales vs Ireland – Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Round Four: 8-9 March
Ireland vs France – Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Round Five: 15 March
Italy vs Ireland – Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Ireland Six Nations Squad
Forwards: Jack Aungier, Ryan Baird, Finlay Bealham, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Boyle, Thomas Clarkson, Jack Conan, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Furlong, Cian Healy, Iain Henderson, Rob Herring, Cormac Izuchukwu, Ronan Kelleher, Gus McCarthy, Joe McCarthy, Peter O’Mahony, Andrew Porter, Cian Prendergast, James Ryan, Dan Sheehan, Josh van der Flier
Backs: Bundee Aki, Caolin Blade, Jack Crowley, Ciaran Frawley, Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, Robbie Henshaw, Hugo Keenan, James Lowe, Conor Murray, Calvin Nash, Jimmy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Sam Prendergast, Garry Ringrose
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