{"id":298898,"date":"2026-02-15T05:29:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/298898\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T05:29:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:29:15","slug":"andy-farrell-looks-to-bigger-picture-as-ireland-escape-with-win-over-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/298898\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Farrell looks to \u2018bigger picture\u2019 as Ireland escape with win over Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Head coach Andy Farrell praised Ireland\u2019s resilience after they survived a major scare to scrape an unconvincing 20-13 Guinness Six Nations victory over Italy.<\/p>\n<p>The error-strewn hosts trailed 10-5 at half-time in Dublin before hanging on as the Azzurri pushed to salvage a draw during a breathless finale.<\/p>\n<p>While Ireland ultimately bounced back from a chastening 36-14 round-one loss away to France, a disjointed display at a subdued Aviva Stadium did little to quell concerns they are a fading force.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"428\" width=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/andy-farrell-looks-to-bigger-picture-as-ireland-escape-with-win-over-italy.jpg\" alt=\"Ireland\u2019s Jack Conan, centre, celebrates with team-mates after his try against Italy\" data-title=\"Ireland v Italy \u2013 Guinness Men\u2019s Six Nations \u2013 Aviva Stadium\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Niall Carson\" data-usage-terms=\"Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder.\"\/>Ireland\u2019s Jack Conan, centre, celebrates with team-mates after his try against Italy (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the bigger picture stuff, the character, because we were playing against a very good Italian side that was never going to go away,\u201d said Farrell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it was more than that. They were trying to batter the door down at the end. The resilience we showed to win the game was fantastic to see.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously there\u2019s too many errors within our game at certain times. But the character shown to come back and have the courage to play the type of rugby that we did at times was very encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ireland\u2019s punishing visit to Paris fuelled suggestions they are slipping into the shadows of the world\u2019s top teams following autumn defeats to New Zealand and South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Giacomo Nicotera\u2019s try and five points from Paolo Garbisi stunned the sold-out home crowd to give Italy a deserved advantage at the break after Jamie Osborne\u2019s opening score.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"428\" width=\"640\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771133355_159_andy-farrell-looks-to-bigger-picture-as-ireland-escape-with-win-over-italy.jpg\" alt=\"Robert Baloucoune, second left, scores Ireland\u2019s decisive third try against Italy\" data-title=\"Ireland v Italy \u2013 Guinness Men\u2019s Six Nations \u2013 Aviva Stadium\" data-copyright-holder=\"PA Wire\" data-copyright-notice=\"PA Wire\/PA Images\" data-credit=\"Niall Carson\" data-usage-terms=\"Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder.\"\/>Robert Baloucoune, second left, scores Ireland\u2019s decisive third try against Italy (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n<p>Second-half tries from Jack Conan and championship debutant Robert Baloucoune restored order, with a conversion and a penalty from replacement fly-half Jack Crowley moving Ireland 20-10 ahead.<\/p>\n<p>A further three points from the boot of Garbisi set up a nervy climax, which concluded with Crowley, who came on for the ineffectual Sam Prendergast, missing touch with a penalty as the home team chased a bonus point.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought Jack played outstandingly well when he came on,\u201d said Farrell.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m actually gutted for him because he wouldn\u2019t normally do that. There are a few things to check there, as far as offside and jumping up and down in his eyeline for the kick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a bit of a shank but that wouldn\u2019t be the overriding thought that I took from Jack\u2019s game. I thought he was outstanding when he came on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Head coach Andy Farrell praised Ireland\u2019s resilience after they survived a major scare to scrape an unconvincing 20-13&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-298898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}