Six Nations 2026: O’Connell happy to see Irish plans come to fruition

Ireland assistant coach Paul O’Connell says it was a pleasure to see the training plans “come to fruition” in the team’s 42-21 five-try thrashing of England at Twickenham on February 21.

The Irish side jumped into title contention by building on a home win over Italy in Dublin after suffering a humiliating defeat at the weekend by France.

After a rest week in the tournament, Ireland will play their next match at home against Wales on Friday [20:10 GMT]with Scotland the visitors to the Aviva Stadium on the final weekend of the tournament on 14 March.

“You have certain messages every week, you have a certain plan before the game that you think is going to work, and sometimes that has happened over the last few weeks — it hasn’t always happened,” O’Connell said in Tuesday’s media conference.

“Seeing some of the play that came into the game, and seeing some of the pieces you’ve been working on on the practice field come to fruition, was great as well.

“It was fun to see how hungry the players were too, right up until the end of the match, and how hard they worked to perform. That’s one of the most satisfying things you experience as coaches in the stands.”

The strikers coach said there was still a lot of room for improvement in the remaining two matches.

“For us, it’s just about improving from the last performance, and that’s where the focus and excitement is for us as coaches and as players.

“Although it was a good result, there are a lot of things we need to improve.”

O’Connell added that winning the championship was not a topic of discussion but was upfront about the team’s ambitions.

“We haven’t discussed trophies or trophies or anything like that, but we might do that,” he told reporters.

“You always come to the campaign and try to win it and we’re not shy about that. Andy has a meeting tomorrow, maybe he’ll mention that, I don’t know.”

“But for us as coaches and players, it’s just about getting ready for the Wales game.”

The return of midfielder Bondi Ake after a four-match suspension for “verbal abuse and disrespect” towards match officials in Connacht URC’s loss to Leinster in January was a boost ahead of the encounter with Steve Tandy’s side, the Irish coach explained.

“It’s great, he’s a great character to be around. He trained well today and it’s great to have that leadership, that kind of character, around the group.”