JOSH VAN DER FLIER believes Ireland’s ability to stay calm in the chaos has given them the belief that they can win it all.
Ireland won the Triple Crown after seeing off Wales on Saturday and are one win away from a third Championship in a row if results go their way in a fortnight’s time.
They are also two wins from a second Grand Slam in three years.
But the third victory of the campaign was the hardest yet as Ireland played with 14 men for 20 minutes after Garry Ringrose was red-carded.
With Wales’ confidence up and the closed roof in Cardiff raising the temperature and noise levels, it could have been chaotic.
But Ireland scored 17 unanswered points to earn the Triple Crown after prior wins over England and Scotland.
Van der Flier said: “It was very calm in the dressing room. There was nothing panicked about it. It was very calm.
“It was very clear. We knew what we needed to do and thankfully we managed to do it.
“It’s something that we talk about a lot about. In rugby, especially when you’re playing away from home, there’s a lot of chaos going on outside.
“But you need to be fairly calm and it needs to be quite relaxed and calm among the team.
“Obviously on the outside it’s absolute chaos, it’s noisy and it’s a lot of things are happening.
“So I’m very pleased with how the lads dealt with it all because it was a messy.”
And he insisted winning when it is chaotic gives Ireland the belief they can beat France and then Italy to claim another Slam.
The flanker added: “There’s an expectation. Every team goes into a tournament to win it.
“But, particularly in this group, I think that the lads genuinely believe they’re going to do it.
“There’s a huge belief in the group that we can be the best team in the world and that we can win every competition we enter.”
