The pictures of the captains and coaches posing in front of the Colosseum look iconic and surreal at the same time, as if generated by AI – gladiators readying themselves for the fight and all that. Yet the wonder is that it took the organisers until this year to hold its launch of the world’s oldest rugby tournament in the Eternal City.
Certainly, the opulent and ornate four-floor Palazzo Brancaccio – a wedding venue and convention centre described as a work of extraordinary architectural recovery, where modern and contemporary art, culture and history come together in the centre of Rome – was a suitable setting.
Simon Easterby and Caelan Doris sure know how to pick their first Six Nations launch.
“That was cool earlier on,” admitted Doris of his photo shoot with the other captains. “A nice start to the day. Beautiful city, I’m loving it.”
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The ambition, of course, is for Ireland to at least still be in contention when Easterby, Doris et al return here in under eight weeks’ time.
“Definitely, definitely,” said Doris, speaking about 8m away from the trophy perched enticingly on a plinth, before the Irish captain returned to his main theme. “Momentum is obviously so big in this competition it’s hard to look past England. Getting that performance right will set us up well for the rest of the competition but if you don’t get it right, you’re clutching at straws already.”
Doris admits he feels more comfortable in the role now, having only captained Leinster for the first time on New Year’s Day last year and Ireland twice, before assuming the responsibility for both teams this season.
“I’m enjoying it a lot more. I still feel there’s a ton of growth within me as a leader. I’m enjoying the journey of growing and trying to evolve in that role as well, but definitely if I look back to my first time doing it with Ireland against Italy in February versus now, I’m a lot more at ease with the extra responsibilities. I’m familiar with them and I’m enjoying it.”
Coaches and former captains such as Johnny Sexton, with whom Doris has chatted, have stressed that his own performances remain paramount. To that end, he was revealingly self-critical of his previous half-dozen Six Nations campaigns.
His aim is to have “my best Six Nations performances in the coming weeks”, and he added: “Each year you look at your game and you try to add different strings. It’s obviously a big competition. I felt I haven’t had my best performances in it across the five games over the last few years. It’s something I’m excited to try to do.”
The same goes for the Irish team after an underwhelming autumn by their lofty standards.
“There’s a little bit of lingering frustration around the autumn, a feeling that we didn’t reach our potential, that there’s so much more growth within us.”
If any game should concentrate Irish minds, then it’s the Six Nations game at home to England on Saturday week, as Doris admitted.
“I wouldn’t have watched too much club rugby growing up but when the Six Nations came around it was always on TV. It would have been at home or in a pub watching it and throwing a ball around at half-time, throwing a ball around after the game.
“There was always a massive buzz in the house around Six Nations time. Ireland-England is the epitome of that really and a home fixture to start off is one we’re looking forward to massively.”
Maro Itoje, the new England captain, was also making his launch debut.
“Watching England play in the Six Nations was what made me want to play for England,” he said. “Seeing the history, seeing the rivalry, seeing the atmosphere, all of that was quite special.”
There is a bronzed statue of a lion at the bottom of the stairwell at the Palazzo Brancaccio, which seemed particularly apt.
“A bit of a nuisance, isn’t he?” laughed Doris when asked about Itoje. “I always enjoy battles with him; similar tendencies in how we try to disrupt breakdowns and make a bit of chaos for the opposition there. He’s quality though, isn’t he? He’s shown his class over a pretty prolonged period now at this stage. He runs a lineout pretty well, he’s very good in set-piece, mauls, scrum, strong carrier, good footballing abilities.
“But probably the main thing that sticks out to me is the kind of chaos he creates at the breakdown.”
“Caelan is a very, very high-quality player,” said Itoje. “His form over the last three/four years has shown that and he’s a player that you have to be ready for and prepare for because he normally plays well on the big occasions.”
“We’ve obviously played against each other a few times, but this is the first time we sat down and spoke, and yeah, he’s a nice guy,” he adds with a laughed, laughing. “Hopefully we will be able to spend a bit more time and play against each other a little bit more, but so far from what I’ve seen he’s a nice guy.”
And maybe be team-mates one day too?
“Well, we’ll see.”
It was nice, for a change, to see the home-based media form the biggest huddle of the day for Gonzalo Quesada. That was until a bigger one formed across the way from Doris, on the opposite corner of the room for some bloke called Antoine Dupont.
The law amendments that afford more space at the base of rucks for scrumhalves and also for number eights to charge from the base of the scrum are good for Doris’s attacking but also, as Dupont warned the Irish captain, for the French scrumhalf as well.
“I think we’re even seeing in the last couple of weeks a bit more picking from the base, which I enjoy doing a lot,” said Doris. “The backs don’t always like it. Selfishly, they want to have a crack with the ball but I think we’ll probably see a bit more of that coming in across teams definitely. Dupont was slagging me earlier on saying that the other rule won’t favour me. He’s delighted about it!”
