“They were brilliant.”

England scrumhalf Danny Care has praised Ireland for their dominant Six Nations Grand Slam win. The Harlequins man says Ireland have some real world class players, and are hugely deserving of their accolades.

Care says Ireland are very clinical, physical and brilliant and the breakdown. And punish teams well when they get in their half. Speaking on BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly podcast, Care said:

“They were very clinical. When they got opportunities to score tries, they did.

They’ve got some world class players who are gonna punish you and they deserved to win and deserved to get the Grand Slam this year.

I think their 9 and 10 have been great for them. They put them in the right areas, they don’t mess about in their own zones. When they do get into your half, they make you pay and they punish you, and their pack of forwards go around doing their business. 

They’re very physical, they’re brilliant at the breakdown, they make good decisions and you saw with that last minute drop goal against France. It kind of set the tone for them in this tournament and you know, fair play to them.”

Care thinks this current Irish team is so good, if they played the All Blacks in Dublin tomorrow, they would win.

I would (back Ireland to win in Dublin).

Those guys are all on cloud nine. We saw it on the Lions’ tour in the summer, the way in which to beat the All Blacks is great line speed and fantastic game control.

Jacob Stockdale scored three tries from intercepts. We speak about the likes of Bryan Habana back in the day, I’m not getting ahead of myself with Stockdale but, he’s shown such an aggressive pressure in that defensive line.

Andy Farrell must be looking down from the stands thrilled, just seeing his defence just absolutely executing everything they want.

So, yes they’ve got the core elements and yes, to your point, they’ve got the best tighthead in the world ever in Tadgh Furlong.

But ya, I mean they’ve got an all-court game that could really punish the All Blacks.