Irish arrogance is becoming hard to ignore

Telegraph

20-02-2025

The elder sages of Ireland's rugby media have gallantly been trying to clear up the mess. Ever since an appalling social media segment cut from an Off The Ball broadcast last week travelled down that viral U-bend into the sewers of our consciousness, a number of their press corps, who actually can be admired, have gone public in their disdain for the content.
Why not simply ignore the juvenile twaddle and swat it away into irrelevance with the derision it required? The suspicion here is because the grown-ups in the room know that the shameless audience-baiting appeared at exactly the wrong time with the national team on the cusp of Six Nations history and rugby in the country being far too widely depicted as arrogant as it swaggers.
If the digital radio show Off The Ball has indeed written Wales's team-talk for their daunting task in Cardiff on Saturday, then they might also have unwittingly underlined the visiting Blarney Army's growing status as being insufferably superior.
Mud sticks. Especially when it happens to be this green and putrid.
If you have not yet watched the clip, then it is worth doing so, if only to remind of the belittling power of banter.
"Would a thirteen-man-Ireland beat Wales...?
"12... now it's a game!"
How bad/hampered would Ireland have to be to lose against #Wales...? | 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇪
OTB Breakfast w/ @Team_Optimum | #UnlockMoreYou #SixNations | #WelshRugby | #IrishRugby | #WRU pic.twitter.com/H78yMsW3TF
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) February 11, 2025
The station controllers were presumably delighted, as the snippet was promoted on its social channels. It soon reached the Welsh and naturally they reacted. The most obvious refrain was, 'unless you were playing us in a World Cup quarter-final'. And thus, the hits proceeded to rack up.
Ireland however, received nothing out of it but the bolstering of a perception that does their heroes no favours. A senseless sneering snippet placed on top of an ever-expanding charge sheet of conceit.
'Collective contempt is not a pretty look'
Of course, OTB does not represent rugby on the island, and fair dues to those writers experienced enough to remember when they were the Championship whipping boys and for quickly pointing this out.
Alas, the stench of cockiness lingers ever more strongly and there seems an emerging fear that during the rise into the game's elite echelons a former reputation has been sacrificed. Collective contempt is not a pretty look, especially among a fanbase who previously added so much genuine humour and bonhomie to the occasion.
A friend of mine was struck by this when attending the World Cup in Paris five months ago. 'As soon as Ireland scored against us early, this green-shirted, red-faced idiot who was sat next to me turned and asked, 'So what's your plan B?'', he said.
'I wish that he was only in a tiny minority, but as a Scotland fan I thought the unadulterated confidence of the Irish fans was completely overbearing and far, far greater than in previous years. They were right, of course, but it was deeply unattractive and at odds with the cliched view of traditional Irish charm. There was a total absence of humility.'
Call it sour leeks if you must, but here in the Welsh capital this is one of several anecdotes I have heard about the changing complexion of the once almost unanimously affable nature of the Irish fan. Meanwhile a smugness is more than hinted at with a mere peek in this month's output from sections of their media.
One correspondent bemoaned last week 'if ever a game didn't need a two-week build up it's this one… a two-week build-up for a foregone conclusion'. The Saturday before, another member of the Gaelic 'Stay-Classy' Brigade, mercilessly kicked the Scottish when they were down. 'The Flower of Scotland wilted like an Irish Wolfhound had cocked his leg against it,' they wrote.
So that is where the imagery has now reached – to a dog urinating over a thistle, nice. At the very least, should the gloating not be reined in somewhat?
It is little wonder that some of their modest colleagues wince. 'Incredibly embarrassing,' said one, who understandably wished to remain anonymous. 'Some of it is cringe-making. Don't they appreciate where Irish rugby came from and the foundations upon which it was built?'
In fairness, they must have become accustomed to very little else but achievement for provinces and for country (World Cup, apart) and would find the days of the Jolly Green Giants as anathema.
That was when the Championship was fun, but now it is a business and Ireland are gloriously in the business of winning. Confidence fosters expectation, that expectation breeds an edge and, unchecked, it can then give birth to the haughty and unseemly.
'You can never be arrogant in this game'
However, we are assured that there is no trace of complacency on behalf of the squad itself, and when one looks at the humble make-up of head coach Andy Farrell and his temporary stand-in, Simon Easterby, it is all too easy to concur.
Yet then you listen to the likes of Springbok Eben Etzebeth who expressed 'shock' at Ireland's attitude during – and sorry to keep repeating the name of the competition - the 2023 World Cup and you do wonder.
'After the game, you shake the guys' hands, and 12 out of the 23, when I shook their hand, they told me 'See you guys in the final,'' Etzebeth claimed. 'I thought, 'Are these guys seriously not even thinking about the All Blacks in [the World Cup quarter-final], playing against them?''
He went on 'Obviously, it's good to be confident but you can never be arrogant in this game.' Was this a lesson learned or ignored?
He is not alone in recognising swelling chests and bulging heads. There have been ample examples of hubris from the freshly retired. Does this ring any bells? 'In order for England to win, Ireland have to go down to like 14 or 13 players.' Jamie Heaslip, the former back-rower, uttered that statement 12 months ago before England went on to beat them.
The chance of Wales doing the same is infinitesimal and as 1-100 favourites perhaps this unwavering mindset is the way it has to be, as the support meets the challenge of embracing the abundance of self-belief. But to allow the ego to overload invariably comes at a price and those 'absence-of-humility' accusations can hurt and will accumulate, no matter how vehemently the Irish chroniclers who do know better rail against a slur they legitimately believe has no place in a proud rugby legacy.