So, apart from St Patrick’s Day, the Cheltenham Festival and a potential Ireland grand slam in the Six Nations championship, could this week be any bigger from an Irish perspective? For aficionados of green-shirted sporting history, the answer is yes. The Ireland team has been playing international rugby for 148 years and, as yet, has never clinched a grand slam in Dublin’s fair city.
The only time it has happened previously on the island of Ireland was back in 1948 when, with the great Jackie Kyle in his pomp, Ireland beat Wales 6-3 at Ravenhill in Belfast. If that was a huge deal at the time – “If Wales don’t score again I’ll be canonised,” the Irish prop Jack Daly joked after scoring the crucial try – it will be nothing compared to the Celtic house party should the world’s No 1-ranked team complete a clean sweep at England’s expense on Saturday.
