The feeling of euphoria that winning in sport brings is a very temporary state. The overwhelming joy that even the greatest of sporting achievements awards to players and supporters, at best, lasts only days.
While the elation in those who lift the trophy soon evaporates, the achievement of a truly great victory stays with the players for their entire lifetime.
So let us take a brief moment to wallow in the joyous mud of Andy Farrell’s team series win in New Zealand. Like children playing in a slushy puddle, let this great success slosh between our toes, splash on to our faces and drip from our eyebrows on to our cheeks. Then let us roll it up into fist-sized balls, smile and toss it at each other.
Enjoy it as much as you can because history tells us that none of us may be above ground when it is repeated.
When the great Wallabies team of 1986 won their historic three-test Bledisloe Cup series in New Zealand we all thought that Australia would go on to emulate that great achievement many more times in the future. Two World Cup wins have been achieved by Australia since 1986, but never again a series win in the Land of the Long White Cloud.
I believed that Ireland could win a single test on their New Zealand tour but I never considered a series win. The players and staff bravely chose a seemingly unattainable goal and went after it with rare dedication. Ignoring history and the rest of the planet’s opinions, they hunted down the impossible.
In the toughest environment the rugby world can offer, they defied the greatest of odds, to eventually triumph. And they did it by playing exciting, sexy, smart, uniquely Irish, running rugby.
Sen-bloody-sational!
First, just smile. Then do a Johnny Sexton and step off your right foot and accelerate into the gap
To all the negative whiners who did not believe in the running game, you may go over into the corner and sit with the Kiwis.
And when you hear the malcontents and the jealous moaning that “Ireland have peaked too early. Once again they have beaten New Zealand mid-World Cup.”
First, just smile. Then do a Johnny Sexton and step off your right foot and accelerate into the gap, while following Uncle Albert Einstein’s advice to “stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution.”
Now ask yourself would you rather be in Ireland’s situation, entering the summer break with the trophy of a historic victory sitting in a Lansdowne Road cabinet, ranked number one in the world, or would you prefer Ireland to be where Australia and New Zealand are? Neck deep in the crocodiles of defeat, confusion and turmoil.
Do these negative doomsayers actually believe that it would be to Irish rugby’s advantage for the team to now be limping off for their holiday, with their tails between their legs, after receiving a thumping at the hands of the Kiwis, who Ireland are likely to face in the next World Cup quarter-final?
Really?
During the height of the pandemic in Sydney, there was a local taxi driver who refused to wear a mask. He picked up people from Sydney airport who he knew were infected with Covid. He then continued to work for another eight hours, spreading the virus to all his future passengers. As the New South Wales minister for health said at the time: “You can’t legislate against stupidity.”
If you encounter anyone who puts forward a negative case for Ireland winning the series in New Zealand, smile and be polite, but as quickly as humanly possible leave their presence because they are probably mates with the Sydney taxi driver.
We all understand that victory in New Zealand guarantees nothing in the future. France remains the favourites for a home win at the World Cup next year and we can guarantee that New Zealand will return to their powerhouse past.
England have proved they can defend, kick and maul exceptionally well, but if Eddie Jones is granted a knighthood it will be for services to insomnia. Their attack is stupefyingly poor.
The Wallabies, sadly, remain a long way off the pace.
While lurking deep in the long grass are the South Africans. Their formula of selecting 14 giant forwards in their match day 23, who are all beasts at the scrum and maul, backed by a 90 per cent-plus goal kicker, remains exceptionally hard to beat.
Under the current warped structure of rugby laws, the Boks negative game plan, which is a blight on the game, is highly effective and equally horrid.
The battle to lift the William Webb Ellis trophy in Paris next year is both titanic and complex. Who will succeed is unclear and exciting.
The reality is that by defeating New Zealand away from home, Ireland are deep within that mix.
Remember that when players achieve huge success like Ireland achieved in New Zealand, the process changes them. The players that arrived back on Irish soil this week, are not the same people who left a month ago.
Life’s experiences change us all. As Heraclitus tells us: “No man steps into the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.”
This Irish team has every right to believe they can be successful against any team, in any stadium, anywhere in the world because their series win in New Zealand has proved they are capable of such successes.
The key for Ireland’s future is to continue to evolve and grow. In international rugby to stay still is to go backwards and that is exactly what Ireland did after defeating New Zealand in 2018.
After this great series victory in New Zealand, Ireland must take pride in their achievement but remain humble
After that great win of 2018, Irish rugby got caught up in an emotional lie, believing Ireland had all the answers to all the problems. What followed in the horrors of 2019 proved the lie.
After this great series victory in New Zealand, Ireland must take pride in their achievement but remain humble. Andy Farrell must drive a growth mindset in his team and continue to evolve his excellent game plan.
In his selections, he must introduce new blood to drive internal competition for places within the team. The next 15 months must be tough and uncomfortable for the Irish players. What was good enough in New Zealand in 2022 will not be good enough in France in 2023.
But all of that is in the future. For now, let us remember that winners have celebrations and losers have meetings.
So while New Zealand sit through a long series of emotionally draining reviews, Irish rugby is off to the beach. So for just a few weeks, let us sit back and breathe in the uplifting contentment of success because this is a very temporary situation.
As you rub on your factor 50 sunblock and enjoy the buzz of euphoria from victory in New Zealand, remember the Wallabies, Fiji and the World Champion Springboks arrive at the Aviva in November.
The journey continues.
