A clean sweep of the southern-hemisphere “giants” in the same calendar year is Ireland’s for the taking this weekend if they can beat Australia in Dublin. And it is testament to the changing face of international rugby that it would not even be for the first time. They managed it in 2016.
This time, though, it feels solid. In 2016, they beat the All Blacks for the first time in their history, let alone all three of them in one year, but now the Irish lord it over the rest at the top of World Rugby’s rankings. Beat the Wallabies in Saturday’s evening fixture, and that is where they will finish the year. More poignantly perhaps, it is where they will start a World Cup year.
