THE Irish rugby team gathered in Rome for a black tie gala to mark the end of the Six Nations – before continuing the party in Dublin.
While it overall felt like an underwhelming tournament from an Irish perspective, they did still win four out of five matches and secured what is still a rare feat in the Triple Crown.
The rather spectacular setting for the night’s festivities[/caption]
Johnny Sexton has become a more visible member of the coaching staff over the past two games[/caption]
Jessica O’Mahony shared this glamorous shot of many of the wives and girlfriends in attendance[/caption]
Conor Murray’s wife Joanna Cooper featured in this one[/caption]
And with three legends bowing out in Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray and Cian Healy, players and staff were keen to give them a fitting send-off.
Peter’s wife Jessica shared a photo album with Instagram followers that reflected on the few days in The Eternal City as a whole.
She captioned it: “Beautiful weekend. Heart is full.”
The biggest worry from Saturday’s match was that so many other players – 12 of the 23 involved were over 30 – were made look old by Italy.
It meant there was no one talking about how they were top of the Championship table at full-time.
Everyone knew they had not done enough to stay there through the England and France games.
Really, it was just relief at avoiding a nightmare loss. Interim head coach Simon Easterby looked at the positive side of it.
He said: “It was the five points we needed initially, a little bit disappointed that we didn’t play our best but Italy to their credit had a part to play in that.
“We didn’t make the most of some of the opportunities we had.”
Italy deservedly went in front with a brilliant move on 12 minutes that allowed Lyon winger Monty Ioane to score.
Tommaso Menoncello beat two Irish men to pass to Paolo Garbisi whose grubber kick was grounded by the flying Ioane.
And they could have had more as the Azzurri looked dangerous every time centre Menoncello got the ball in his hand.
Easterby added: “It was missed tackles mostly. It looked a little bit greasy out there, there were guys slipped a little bit.
“There is no doubt they had an ability. They concede too easily but they attack well.”
The shindig carried over into the wee hours[/caption]
Jessica shared this photo of her with Sexton’s other half Laura Priestly[/caption]
She joked ‘may have attacked this’ regarding the complimentary food on offer[/caption]
Upon their arrival back home in Dublin they kept the party going by going out to McSorley’s of Ranelagh which is owned by Rob Kearney, Jamie Heaslip and Sean O’Brien[/caption]
The full-time whistle was greeted by jeers from the home fans, and soon the visitors were on a lap of honour.
It did not feel like it at the time, but captain Caelan Doris later stressed that there was a lot of good in this Six Nations now overshadowed by a bad loss to France and this narrow 22-17 win.
He said: “I think there has been a lot of good stuff. I think winning the Triple Crown in our first three games showed quite a lot of positive things.
“There are obviously lots of things we can learn and grow from over the last couple of weeks.
“I hope that it will be a springboard for us as a group to go on and continue to evolve and a bit of a realisation that there’s still a lot of work to be done and a lot in us.
“But overall four wins from five, lots of positives in there, definitely.”
