Dawn of the 6 Nations, pt. 4

With the 6 Nations quite literally around the corner, I wanted to start Route One by talking about each country and some of the possible talking points going into this tournament. I'll place the countries into different posts and I'll save my thoughts on the Round 1 matches for separate posts, and hopefully this doesn't take terribly long. They are arranged in absolutely random order:

Ireland: The introduction of the Joe Schmidt era began with a bang with an easy rout against Manu Samoa, but the squad came crashing down to Earth the next week with a defeat to an Australian team still finding its feet under Ewen McKenzie. The Irish were able to turn it around the next week with an immaculate first 40 minutes against the All Blacks, before the game was taken from them at the death by Ryan Crotty's try, and a first victory against the New Zealand was lost. If the performance shown against the All Blacks can be the new standard set by Schmidt then Ireland look to be capable of making a big turn around this tournament from the lows they suffered last year by finishing 5th.