Ireland dug deep to pull off a 20-13 victory against an unrecognisable Italy team last Saturday at the Aviva Stadium

By Phil Rice

Gonzalo Quesada, the Italy coach, has done a remarkable job at transforming his side into a competitive international force that nobody can take for granted. They deservedly led 10-5 in Dublin at half-time.

But Ireland put in a much-improved performance in the second period to lead before hanging on stoutly in the final ten minutes as Italy bombarded their line. Head coach Andy Farrell spoke after the game about his satisfaction with how his players defended under pressure.

“Italy were trying to batter the door down at the end there, so the resilience we showed to win the game was fantastic to see,” he said. “The character shown to come back and have the courage to play the type of rugby we played was very encouraging.”

This was not a vintage Irish performance but a considerable step up from the poor showing against France in Paris just nine days earlier. “There were still too many errors at times during the game,” said Farrell.

The introduction of some new faces was significant with winger Rob Baloucoune and back row forward Cormac Izuchukwu particularly impressive. Baloucoune was named player of the match and Ireland centre Stuart McCloskey was quick to praise him after the game.

“Rob is class and I think he has shown just how good he can be when he has played this year,” said McCloskey. “For Ulster he has been world class when he has been fit. He scores tries that other people can’t and takes balls in the air that other people can’t take.”

Izuchukwu was outstanding in the lineout and also made his presence felt in the loose. While Jack Conan had a fine game at number eight, his captain Caelan Doris was shifted to open side flanker and he is definitely not as effective in that position. Doris is a natural number eight, but it would be difficult to leave either Izuchukwu or Conan out of the starting side to face England next Saturday (KO 2.10pm).

Tempted

Farrell may be tempted to include Josh van der Flier on the bench to introduce his defence and international experience at some stage, against a powerful England back-row. The Irish front-row held up pretty well against a robust Italy scrum, but on a couple of occasions it capsized.

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Ireland’s celebrated tight-head Tadhg Furlong was given a bird’s eye view of the Aviva Stadium when he was hoisted unceremoniously into the air. However, it was good that he lasted 40 minutes with no obvious issue from his troublesome calf injury.

While Jeremy Loughman fought manfully on the loose-head side of the scrum, there is no doubt that it would be a significant boost if Andrew Porter was declared fit to at least sit on the bench at Twickenham. Ready for action if required. Ellis Genge and Co will be licking their lips at the prospect of following Italy’s example in attacking the Irish scrum.

Farrell introduced his experienced bench during the second-half in Dublin last weekend and it made for a significant improvement in Ireland’s attack. Jameson Gibson-Park provided much quicker ball for the backs and Jack Crawley utilised this to good effect when he entered the fray.

A much-vaunted England team came a serious cropper at Murrayfield as Scotland handed out what is becoming their annual hiding to their ‘southern’ enemies (31-20). The transformation in Gregor Townsend’s team from the previous round’s poor display against Italy was staggering. The Six Nations has a habit of throwing up some unexpected surprises during the competition and Steve Borthwick’s England looked devastated after events in Edinburgh.  

The English media had talked expectantly of looking forward to a Grand Slam decider with France in Paris on ‘Super Saturday’ next month. Scotland tore up that script. Ireland can now expect a strong backlash after that disappointing result for England.

They will undoubtedly target the set-piece as that is one of their strengths – and one they perceive to be an area of Irish vulnerability. Ireland’s scrum coach John Fogerty is set for a busy week’s work in preparation for the expected onslaught at Twickenham.

Also on Saturday, Wales host Scotland in Cardiff while on Sunday Italy go to championship leaders France.

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