It may not have been a vintage one, but by any yardstick 2016 was a good year for Irish rugby. One only has to rewind 12 months to remember where we were. Doom and gloom prevailed.
The hangover from the injury-riddled defeat to Argentina in the quarter-final of the World Cup had lingered into the provinces and Ireland's Six Nations campaign. Leinster, particularly, and Munster and Ulster were all feeling the effects, each having been on the receiving end of bonus-point wins by English clubs, who would provide five of the quarter-finalists in an Anglo-French Champions Cup carve-up. Money wasn't so much talking as screaming.
Ireland went into a Six Nations for the first time ever without either of their twin totems, Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell, and facing their less favourable biannual itinerary with treks to Paris and London, with six games against the Southern Hemisphere heavyweights to come in as daunting a calendar as any Irish team has faced. After a draw with Wales, defeats in both away games ended their hold on the title.
Roll on 12 months and the year ends with all four provinces still in contention for the European Champions Cup knockout stages and Ireland buoyed by a trio of wins over the southern hemisphere big three while riding high in the world rankings in fourth place.
Restrictive
There's been a fair degree of revisionism regarding Ireland's Six Nations campaign, where Joe Schmidt's side was perceived as a restrictive, relatively blunt instrument. Yet was it really that bad? In addition to O'Connell and O'Driscoll, remarkably Ireland also went into a match without either John Hayes or Mike Ross in the number three jersey for the first time since the former's debut against Scotland in 2000, Hayes having played 54 games in a row and Ross the ensuing 25 in 16 successive championships.
Despite this, Ireland played superbly in the first half-hour against Wales, deservedly leading 13-0, before scrum pressure yielded a try for Toby Faletau and ultimately Ireland had to claw a 16-all draw through a penalty by Johnny Sexton.
Paris was the one that got away against a limited France team on a dreary, wet evening in the Stade de France when Jaco Peyper permitted the French to give Sexton a fair old buffeting.
Ireland failed to build more than a 9-3 lead when again beginning the stronger, despite losing Seán O’Brien for the rest of the season at the end of the first quarter, before their depowered scrum eventually led to Maxime Médard’s match-winning try. There was no shame in losing from 10-6 ahead early in the second-half to Eddie Jones’s all-conquering English team, and home wins over Italy and Scotland did little to quell the disgruntlement.
It was largely overlooked that Ireland did score 13 tries in those two wins to secure third place, including the try of the season which Jamie Heaslip finished off against Italy after Sexton's trademark loop and Simon Zebo's one-handed offload sparked a move of superb handling and support play from the Irish 22.
This is worth recalling as evidence that Ireland did not undergo some form of liberation after losing Sexton, both Kearneys and Luke Fitzgerald prior to the tour of South Africa. They had all been sidelined following the final of the Guinness Pro12, when Connacht's unlikely, irreverent and thrilling success went some way to alleviating that aforementioned hangover and to salvaging the 2015-16 season.
In addition to having Andy Farrell's booming new voice on the training ground and in the dressing-room, the Ireland team perhaps became less Sexton-dependant in South Africa, with Paddy Jackson and Luke Marshall contributing to that first ever away win over the Springboks in Cape Town, despite being reduced to 14 men for the last hour.
Re-enforced
Granted, South Africa’s results on their November tour re-enforced the feeling that this was a Test series win which got away as Ireland went down to six-point defeats in the second and third games.
Nevertheless, back to something like full-strength and with a relatively unfettered preparation, Schmidt and co helped to mastermind that historic first win over the All Blacks on an emotionally charged day when the Ireland squad paid a classy and fitting tribute to Anthony Foley.
Outscoring the back-to-back world champions by five tries to four and 40-29 to remove that damned monkey from the back of Irish rugby would have made it a good year on its own. After going toe to toe in the bruising, full-on rematch, the bonus was that remarkably resourceful come-from-behind win over the improving Wallabies.
That trio of big wins underlined how Rory Best has grown into the daunting role of following O'Driscoll and O'Connell. Jack McGrath's status as one of the world's best looseheads was underlined in another unwaveringly consistent year (which also applied to Devin Toner) and Tadhg Furlong's emergence as a Lions contender demonstrated how healthy the frontrow stock has become.
That, as is usually the case, again applies to the backrow, with the emergence of CJ Stander and Josh van der Flier, as well as the welcome return of O’Brien and Peter O’Mahony. Murray’s performances all through the year, and especially in Chicago, make him a contender for the best scrumhalf in the world, as well as the best Irish rugby has ever produced.
Even allowing for Jared Payne's misfortune, life after Brian looks less foreboding with the emergence of Garry Ringrose, as well as Robbie Henshaw. The back three stock looks strong, with Zebo and Keith Earls playing as well as ever and Rob Kearney back to his imperious best.
Schmidt’s decision to extend his tenure at the helm of an exceptionally strong backroom team ensures the Ireland squad will remain in a good place.
All in all, there are reasons to be cheerful, certainly more than was the case a year ago.
gthornley@irishtimes.com
