And people said Ireland would never win a final. The 2024 Six Nations, and indeed the 2027 World Cup, began and ended on a breezy Marseille night as Ireland helped themselves to a bonus-point victory against France, dismantled the tournament favourites, wrote the blueprint for the next chapter of the Andy Farrell era and established a lasting peace in the Middle East.
Too much? Too soon? Well, why not? Sport has always been about the dreaming as well as the doing, and for the thousands of Irish fans huddled together in a little corner of the Stade Vélodrome this was a night for shouting down the noise, for standing up in the face of hostility, for setting aside past torments. It was an examination and an exhibition, to be sure, but also a kind of exorcism. A night, in short, for pencilling in Joe McCarthy for the next two Lions squads, climbing back aboard the hype train and daring to be hurt again.
