Italy will be the hardest of the three home games insists former Ireland star
00:01, 11 Feb 2026Updated 07:16, 11 Feb 2026
2026 Guinness Six Nations Championship Round 1, Stade De France, Paris, France 5/2/2026 France vs Ireland – Nick Timoney (Image: ©INPHO)
David Wallace was one of the greatest no6’s to have ever played for Ireland, he was also brilliant at no7 and one of the greatest no8s to have played for Munster.
The former Garryowen star watched the defeat to France and accepts the Ireland line-up needs some adjusting but has warned against wholesale changes.
Italy are a good side, they will provide the toughest test of the three home games so it is not a place to experiment.
In this, Wallace sees the Stade de France back-row personnel of Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Cian Prendergast, Tadhg Beirne, Nick Timoney and Jack Conan as the right ones to roll over for Italy.
It is that the ‘numbers’ he would have on their backs would constitute a clear tweak.
“I just think Nick Timoney has a nudge on Josh van der Flier at the moment, a physical nudge on him and I’d like to see him start,” he says of the Ulster openside.
“I’d like to see Jack Conan start and, yeh, Caelan Doris but for me, I’d like to see Conan maybe go at no8 and Doris no6.”
Timoney made a big case for inclusion, nabbing a try following his 53rd minute introduction against France.
“Timoney was brilliant last Thursday, to come on in a game like that and actually make a difference and force a change makes a difference. He is the power athlete there at the moment, a different type of player to van der Flier.
“There’s few guys that can carry like him and maybe you could even slot him in for a couple of scrums and have him carry off the back the odd time and get some go-forward.
“It would also give van der Flier, who has been one of the first names on the team sheet the last couple of years, a rest. Sometimes that’s great, sometimes you need that little spark under you and get someone breathing down your neck to kind of bring your big game on.
“Josh is probably not where he was when he was World Player of the Year but then he’s been through an awful lot of rugby in the last couple of years.”
Van der Flier made 11 tackles without a miss in his 53 minutes as Ireland tried to stem the French tide.
“There’s probably a high bar that he set himself a couple of years ago and there’s reasons for that, it’s not like he’s not trying or something, there’s nothing like that,
“I say that there is a little bit of a Lions’ hangover here. He’s played a lot of rugby, he’s not as conditioned as he would have been outside of a Lions tour because you are compromised when you come back.
David Wallace (Image: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan)
“Josh, and it is probably through his own success, he’s a victim of it, but he probably does need a bit of a break in terms of this summer and getting a good preseason in and getting fitness back.
“Because there are some players who are a little bit run into the ground and hadn’t been given that chance to boost their summer.”
At the same time Wallace agrees with Ronan O’Gara’s assertion that JVDF got through a lot of unseen work in Paris
“But, look, Josh does an amount of work and a lot of it is undetected, unseen, but against a team like France, that’s the base rate for someone like him especially, to make your tackles and clean your rucks and get around, be busy.
“That’s kind of tidying up, housekeeping stuff, in some respects the stuff you have to do and get through and he’s really good at it, he’s really fit, he does a lot of it.
“But how are you actually going to impact the game? Where is Josh going to stem the flow and create some momentum for the team? If he’s a little bit flat on power and things like that where Timoney isn’t.
Conan has started at no8 for Ireland when Doris has played. The season before last Conan was at no8 against Italy in the Six Nations and the Autumn internationals with Doris playing no7 on each occasion.
“Purely from an athleticism I’m just thinking of Conan coming off the back of the scrum, getting a bit of go-forward, I think he’s a better ball-carrier at the moment.
“Doris has great footwork and is quite a tall runner but off the back of the scrum he has struggled a little bit of the moment in terms of his carries but he was always able to put a bit of footwork on and kind of get through a tackle and get behind a pack.
“But, at the moment, he’s just maybe missing a little bit of that footwork and that can usually come back with some conditioning and things like that. You look at Doris, he does look more like a no6 I think than a no8, he’s quite tall and rangy.
“I think Conan just has that mass and a bit more lower-to-the-ground power.”
The question of Tadhg Beirne is nuanced, he is good enough for international back-row rugby, but Wallace prefers seeing him in the back-row.
“He’s a phenomenal talent and he’s a rare breed, the Paddy Johns-type of guys who were second-rows and going into play in the back-row.
“The way I always viewed it, and anytime I saw a second-row picked in the back-row I just licked my lips, I thought ‘brilliant, we’re gonna have an easy day!’.
“It’s just because the guys I feared are the smaller, squatter, guys who can really get in and around the back of the ruck and can carry really low, get under you and use their power whereas, if you have a taller second-row type they’re one of the easier tackles to make because generally they don’t have the pace.
“They’re higher and you can get in under them and you can get a little bit quicker to the breakdown.
You can also step them a bit easier, and things like that so I always used to relish when the second-row was picked. Obviously it can be great for the lineup, and there is maybe a bit more weight in the scrum.”
All of which suggest players such as Beirne who play in the back and the second-row regularly is unusual.
“Tadhg is slightly different in that he is a really good second-row and really good back-row as well or are you getting an out-and-out hybrid – for me though if you had an out-and-out no6, you’ve got a better option because there are nuances.
“But in terms of Tadhg, he’s been running that forever and he’s probably one of the few guys that gets away with it but in an ideal world, I’d still like to have him as a second-row and have a proper back row in there.
Beirne for the second-row against Italy so while Cian Prendergast who did so well to shore up the lineout against France and who might have been considered for the second-row is there for the bench alongside van der Flier if Ireland are sticking with the six-tow split.
“I don’t see way beyond Tadhg for the second-row even if Cian’s name is mentioned, just what he’s done, his ability to be around the park and the way he forces poaches and all of that he does better than most back-rows and he’s quick and he’s runs good line, probably not.
“Now I haven’t seen enough of Cian Prendergast, to be honest, to really compare but, yeah, certainly, I think they are similar in terms of their attributes.
“I suppose Cormac Izuchukwu is also that kind of crossover but I’m saying this is probably going to be our hardest home game so I think you have got to pick a team that is your best team and you go out and you go to win it so, no, I don’t think you go experimental at this stage.
“You got to find a way to put down a statement and because obviously they’re hurt by last week,
“It wasn’t the score as such really because they found a way back into the game and could have got back into the game after the second try if they had got another try.
“No, Italy are too good, they’re playing with a lot of confidence and they’re very dangerous prospects.”
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