“This one will hurt,” said the much-decorated full-back. “These opportunities for back to back Grand Slams don’t come around very often”
Former full-back Rob Kearney says that Ireland were “bullied and beaten up” by England – and must still learn to bring their best against the best.
Kearney was in Twickenham on Saturday for the last-gasp defeat for Andy Farrell’s side.
The much-decorated star will return to the Virgin Media studio for what, he predicts, will be the winning Ireland performance that secures back to back Six Nations titles.
“The one team you don’t want coming to Dublin after a game like that is probably Scotland because you never know what they’re going to do,” he said.
“They’ve got the ability to score 30 points on their day, they’ll throw the kitchen sink at us and there won’t be an ounce of fear in them coming here.
“I don’t think that defeat has done much damage to the Scots because that’s what the Scots are like.
“They can have the worst performance and within a week produce their best performance.
“Consistency with Scotland doesn’t go hand in hand but they’re a team that you need to be always wary of.”
“When you lose a game there’s always a seed of doubt that reappears back in your head,” he commented.
“The first few minutes will be telling as to what level Ireland are at, mentality wise. If they can just get themselves into the game nice and early, they should pull away.”
Kearney is optimistic that Ireland will recover from their 23–22 loss.
The two-time Grand Slam and six-time Six Nations champion is very complimentary of England’s performance but harsh on Ireland’s after missing the opportunity to set a new championship record with 12 straight victories.
What are we able to discover? We’re not a side that can defeat the opponent by playing at 70% efficiency,” said Kearney.
“A few things fell short for us. We were banged up and didn’t offer our backs enough clear set-piece balls as a result of being harassed as a pack.
We don’t usually connect this team with poor discipline, but we did a poor job of handling the final few minutes.
“If you’re drawing comparisons with that World Cup quarter-final, we didn’t have one player on the Irish team that had a world-class performance. New Zealand had five or six.
“Sam Cane had his best game ever in a black shirt, Ardie Savea was unbelievable, Richie Mo’unga, Jordie Barrett, Beauden at the back.
“Neither last weekend nor in the quarterfinal did Ireland put on a display like that. Many of the players in England had really good performances.”
It is evident that both England’s new defense coach Felix Jones and the All Blacks, now led by Joe Schmidt, had set their sights on Ireland well before their match against France in 2023.
Being one of the greatest teams in the world comes with certain perks, according to Kearney.
“Every week you had to play the other team in a World Cup final when you were with Leinster. It was their biggest game of the year, and they consistently produced marginally more.
