Andrew Trimble: The pendulum has ‘swung back’ for struggling England, France and Springboks but there is a big ‘worry’ over Ireland
Ireland players dejected and their head coach Andy Farrell.
Former Ireland wing Andrew Trimble is worried that years in the doldrums will follow if it is indeed the end of the team’s ‘golden generation’.
Andy Farrell’s men enjoyed tremendous success between 2022 and 2025, claiming two Six Nations titles, including a Grand Slam, and sealing a historic series success over the All Blacks in New Zealand.
They arguably went into the 2023 Rugby World Cup as the best side in the sport, but succumbed narrowly to New Zealand in the quarter-finals.
A victory in that last-eight clash would have opened up a clear path to the final, and that could be their best chance of reaching the latter stages of a global tournament for some time.
That is if Trimble’s concerns are well-founded with Ireland slowly declining since the World Cup in France.
Keeping faith with the tried and trusted
Farrell has decided not to overhaul his ageing squad, placing trust in the older players, but there are signs that they are beginning to wane.
The Irishmen were hammered 36-14 against France in the Six Nations last week, with both the performance and result leaving fans and pundits worried.
Trimble did not want to proclaim that it is the end of their stint at the top table, simply answering “maybe” when queried if their ‘golden era’ is over, but the signs are not promising.
The 41-year-old does see positives, however, and those are the simple things the Farrell’s outfit can do to improve for the rest of the Six Nations
“I don’t want to be too dramatic about it because there are a couple of things in that Irish performance that can be fixed,” he said on the Rivals.
“Defensively, we can front up – that 12 can front up way better. I think they can fix some things around their line speed, they can fix some things around their defensive breakdown.
“They can create breakdown pressure, get their width, get their line speed. There were a couple of long, floaty passes from France and we can sort that out, so there are a few quick fixes – things can change quickly.”
The next 12 months will be telling as to where Ireland stand and if they can recover, whether that is their older players regaining form or the youngsters coming through and impressing.
If neither of those happen then Trimble believes that it could be a while before the Irish enjoy the type of success they had prior to the 2023 World Cup.
Pendulum may not ‘swing back’
“France five of six years ago, the 10 years before that France were pretty dormant, they were a rabble. They didn’t really have much going on and they were scrapping together performances, changing teams, changing coaches all over the place,” he added.
“South Africa had a barren period, England with Eddie Jones had a difficult period, but the playing population in those countries is so huge, the pendulum’s always going to swing back.
“In Ireland, there are four provinces, if one or two of those provinces don’t go so well – we’ve got two Irish provinces playing in the second-tier [Challenge Cup] and Leinster are not quite [at their best].
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“They’ve still got a good draw in Europe, they’re maybe one of the favourites, possibly third behind Toulouse and Bordeaux. They’re close enough but they’re not the Leinster that they were when you’re talking about that generation; that couple of years of Irish dominance in world rugby when they looked incredible.
“Whenever Ireland, Wales or Scotland drop off, it takes longer for them to bounce back, whereas you see that bounce back from those bigger rugby countries.
“That’s the worrying thing. If Ireland do drop off, you wonder if it could be for a little bit longer than it would be elsewhere.”
