A recap of Ireland's rugby season in 2024, highlighting key moments, victories, and emerging players.
Between the last Rugby World Cup finals and next summer's British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, the 2024 calendar year hasn't been short of thrills and spills. The Six Nations saw Ireland start with a blistering performance in Marseille but fall to a late Marcus Smith drop goal for England at Twickenham, ruling out hopes of a first-ever back to back Grand Slam triumph - Ireland fans made do with another Six Nations title instead.
The Champions Cup - and another near-miss for Leinster - followed, the summer tour of South Africa, the start of a new season and Munster releasing Graham Rowntree from the hot-seat...plus the November series and the emergence of a live contender for Ireland's No.10 jersey. It hasn't been dull, that's for certain. Here are the highs and the lows of 2024. READ MORE: Andy Farrell watched Ireland beat Australia by just three points in Dublin in November - Lions places will be up for grabs through 2025 Six Nations HIGHS Ireland beat the world champs The word is that Andy Farrell read the riot act to his players after losing the first game of the two-Test tour in Loftus Versfeld. It's not something that the players have experienced much under the head coach, but it had the desired effect. The players threw everything into the final game of their season in Durban and replacement Ciarán Frawley coolly converted two drop goals in the final 10 minutes, the second coming right at the death, to secure parity in the series with the world champions. Sam Prendergast hits the big stage Jack Crowley returned from South Africa as Ireland's nailed-on No.10 after playing a big part in retaining the Six Nations title. By then, Ciarán Frawley was seen as his biggest challenger for selection, after his Durban heroics. But then Sam Prendergast was picked for the Emerging Ireland tour and started all three games in South Africa, the precursor for him making the Autumn Series squa
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