The Irish Dream: Rugby Team Chasing the Grand Slam

Am I dreaming, or is this real?

If someone had told me back in January that by Mar. 16 Manchester United would be four points ahead in the Premier League but smarting from a 4-1 demolition at home to Liverpool, I'd have laughed. But if they'd said I'd be looking forward to watching Ireland battle it out with Wales not just for the Six Nations Championship but also the Grand Slam, I'd have called for the men in white coats.

After such a dismal World Cup and Six Nations Championship last year, the future looked bleak for Irish rugby. Nobody saw this coming, least of all the players, which is probably for the best because the Irish have a habit of buckling under pressure.

2007 was meant to be our year—the Six Nations and a proper challenge for the World Cup, but everything effectively fell apart after France's last-minute try in February.

Now after wins against France, Italy, England, and Scotland, the Grand Slam is well and truly in our sights with Wales a shadow of the team that conquered all before them last year.

As with every game this championship, I'm cautiously optimistic about playing Wales in Cardiff.  Win and the Grand Slam is ours regardless of how many points. But lose by more than 13 points and Wales takes the championship on points difference. Both scenarios are perfectly foreseeable.

Every Irish person will be a bundle of nerves watching the action unfold, still daring to dream since we all thought the Grand Slam was out of reach for another few years yet. The emergence of Jamie Heaslip and other young players has helped an aging team get one last crack at the one we thought had got away.

Also, Brian O'Driscoll has been Captain Fantastic dragging his weary and battered body along with his teammates to the finishing line in each game and closer to the dream becoming a reality. Ronan O'Gara's kicking has been impeccable (except against England, when the pressure of the occasion got to him).

I hope I'm not dreaming, because it's the perfect way for Ireland to win, when nobody, not even them, expected to do so well, even if the opposition is weaker compared to other years.

If the whole Ireland team can play aggressively as a unit on Saturday, try to forget about the occasion and the Cardiff crowd, and then the dream may just become real. We will see Brian O'Driscoll finally lift the Six Nations trophy for the first time in 23 years and the Grand Slam for the first time in 61 years.