No Six Nations title but Triple Crown leaves Ireland in a “good place” says Farrell
Ireland may have missed out on a Six Nations title, but the 2026 championship has undeniably served to strengthen Andy Farrell’s hand ahead of next year’s World Cup.
A championship and Super Saturday for the ages delivered a fourth Triple Crown in the last five years for Ireland – with Farrell’s men coming within a kick of claiming a seventh Six Nations title. Ireland were just moments away from being crowned champions as England threatened to pull off an extraordinary win in Paris, only for Thomas Ramos to land a last kick-of-the-game penalty to snatch victory (48-46) for France – and the title.
So near and yet so far, but for an Irish team widely regarded as being in transition and decimated by injuries on the eve of their opening round trip to Paris, four wins, second place and a Triple Crown is an outcome as satisfactory as it was unexpected just a few weeks ago. Victory over Scotland in Dublin ensured that a Six Nations which had begun under a cloud and amidst uncertainty, ended with excited optimism for what lies ahead.
“I believe we’re in a really good place. This Six Nations has been really competitive. I think we’ve been shown that in all the performances,” said Farrell. “Italy have come on incredibly well. Wales showed a really spirited performance last week and that was a real tough physical game.
“That first week against France, we were fairly disappointed, but to where we are now, I think we’ve built really nicely throughout the weeks. We’ve played some proper Test matches; they’ve been really tough. It’s no small achievement to win a Triple Crown as well. To get that achievement today is extremely pleasing. Hopefully, that leads us in a really good place to build during summer.”
Proud
Farrell’s men had earlier done their part by running in six tries in a 43-21 win over Scotland at the Aviva Stadium. Tommy O’Brien (2), Jamie Osborne, Dan Sheehan, Robert Baloucoune – later named 2026 BKT Rising Player of the championship – and Darragh Murray all crossed in Dublin. Jack Crowley kicked five conversions and a penalty.
It was Ireland’s 12th straight win over Scotland and a marker ahead of next year’s World Cup clash between the sides. Events in Paris were out of their hands – they could only watch on and hope for an England win, which Steve Borthwick’s side came within seconds of delivering.
“Proud as punch of everyone involved,” said Farrell. “It’s been a hell of an eight weeks, and winning matters, but what’s happened over that eight weeks matters more to us in a sense that there’s a lot of firsts with the first caps, first Six Nations [appearances], taking it to the final week when it matters for quite a few people in our group.
“How the group have come together and navigated their way through that has been pretty special, so therefore we grow massively because of it and the group has become more resilient because of that.”
Ireland’s tackle count against Scotland of 228 was their highest for 15 years, against a visiting side which began the day eyeing a Triple Crown of their own – and possibly a first Six Nations title.
“That’s why it was so pleasing, they [Scotland] played bloody well, you know?” Farrell added. “They kept banging the door down the whole time, but I thought we had a ruthless edge to us in how we defended and converted in the 22, I suppose that was the story of the game really.”
Transformed
When the dust settles, Ireland will be able to reflect on finishing the championship a team transformed from the one which was comprehensively second-best to France (36-14) in round one. The signs of recovery were there in the second half against Italy as Farrell’s men produced a second-half display of far greater intensity to prevail by 20-13.
It then yielded their biggest points tally (42-21) in an away fixture against England at Twickenham, which ended Borthwick’s side’s run of nine consecutive home wins. It was a case of ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ against Wales, as Ireland struggled to hit the heights of Twickenham before winning a 27-17.
While Farrell singled out Jack Crowley and Caelan Doris against Scotland for praise, Ireland’s championship will be defined by the fringe players and new faces who’ve seized their chance. “Somebody like Darragh Murray, to come in, played his first caps in the summer, but to come in and score the try and charge down [a kick], his lineout was great, all of that,” said Farrell.
“Mikey Milne, to perform like he did and come on, you could go through it like that and talk about everyone, but for me there’s a couple of standout stories as well. Stu McCloskey should definitely be in the running for player of the tournament.
“But for him to back it up five games on the trot is new, certainly in this format, but to perform and be consistently performing to that higher level is amazing, and it’s all because he’s playing in a squad that’s unbelievably close and connected to one another.
“And then you look at, say, Tommy O’Brien, first Six Nations. Rob Baloucoune, at 28, he gets the Newcomer Award, but you could go through the squad like that and pick them out, as I’m sure you all will. The story of this Six Nations has been certainly a powerful one for us, certainly internally anyway.”
Despite already having 17 caps to his name, Ulster prop Tom O’Toole was arguably the breakout performer for Ireland. An injury crisis at loosehead gave him another opportunity and the 27-year-old grabbed it to resurrect his international career, having not featured in the 2025 Autumn Nations Series or Six Nations.
“The Tom O’Toole thing is amazing,” said Farrell. “It’s amazing what he’s done, he should be unbelievably proud of himself because it’s a tough thing to do [switching from tighthead to loosehead], but how he’s handled it, and you saw the scrum today, how he stood up is a fantastic story.”
