I think the best thing about being an Ireland fan is that that's been the case in parts for 25 years now and consistently for 10 (looking inward rather than in comparison to other 6n sides). Ok, 2019, the coaching had become outdated and predictable and you can only say it with the benefit of hindsight about 2020 and early 2021 when we struggled to implement Farrell's new attacking and defensive approaches (I mentioned on the England thread that 14 games to get it right is Neinaber's theory of rugby coaching), which applied to a lesser extent to the autumn also. However we're now in a time of unprecidented winning percentages and achievements and it's followed times of unprecedented percentages and achievements, Andy Farrell, Joe Schmidt and Eddie O'Sullivan are Ireland's top three coaches in terms of winning % and Declan Kidney ended a 61 year grand slam drought. Even games we lose now tend to be one score games where a bounce of a ball or a refereeing interpretation could change the result, there's no team in rugby that we'd go into a game with thinking we don't have a good chance to win against. England fans will be more aware of this than we are but that is how to go deep in world cups.
The rugby world cup obviously hasn't fallen our way yet but lessons were learned in 2015 (depth is needed for International rugby), 2019 (you can never stop expanding and improving how you play the game in international rugby) and I'm sure we've picked up on things from 2023, I'd guess using our bench as a weapon rather than a tool to not let the standard drop is one thing based on this tournament. It gets harder as you get to the top, the margins are finer and games like today become can't lose rather than shouldn't lose games, but if the trend continues and we get a bit more luck come the world cup, there really is no ceiling in terms of what we can achieve in the next 6-7 years at least (everything is cyclical and predicting beyond that is a bit pointless because if France and England can start to be as efficient as us we'd begin to rely on golden generations coming through at the right time to keep up. You can't mould Johnny Sexton, Caelan Doris, Tadhg Beirne or POM, they are the way they are and were nurtured by their provinces / Ireland / Scarlets).
But equally, and this is something Ireland fans online don't seem to get which infuriates me, is that there's no way to guarantee a win v NZ, SA or France (I think England and maybe even Argentina could join this list soon). When everyone's goal is the same, everyone's effort is the same and differences in talent, fitness, tactics and performance are negligible, like the top 4 at the last world cup, a moment of inspiration / madness will generally be the difference and we saw that with Jordie Barrett holding up Kelleher over the line, Kolbe charging down Ramos and Etzebeth's charge down, and Sam Cane's red card. All the structure and coaching in the world can't factor that in.
Anyway, bit of a rant but there's been a lot of negativity about Ireland elsewhere recently and while it's not ideal at provincial level right now outside Leinster and we are at a natural advantage, the roadmap is there for everyone to reach their potential.
