Italy 20; Ireland 34
If you play enough with fire, you will surely end up getting burnt. Ireland Head Coach Andy Farrell should remember that old dictum as his team of many changes, seven in all, were put to the pin of their collar before accounting for a very lively, inventive and athletic Italian side in Rome on Saturday afternoon.
With Scotland away and England at home now looming large on the horizon, it is imperative that Ireland put out its best 15 and backups if they are to sign off on the first part of '23 with the sign “Mission Accomplished” hanging from their doorknob.
Yes, in the end we got five tries, we got the bonus point and we got another win on the road but we were nowhere as dominant or as cohesive as a unit as we had been in the victories over France and Wales in the earlier rounds.
Injuries seem to be mounting as well and with Tadhg Beirne ruled out for the rest of the Six Nations season already, Saturday saw Finlay Bealham leave the field with what looked like a long-term knee injury. Should Tadgh Furlong be ready to step back into the team, then that will be a solution, but if he is still short of fitness, we will be looking at a fourth choice tight head to bolster the excellent Tom O'Toole for the Scotland match.
So there we are. Still, it is a lovely place to be, isn't it, at the top of the table and winning despite not playing well or with a full squad. Up to recently either of those situations would have spelt disaster for an Ireland rugby team but not anymore. We ended up with the bonus point and our dreams intact for another 10 days or so at least. However, watching Scotland play so well in Paris albeit in defeat, there is no doubt we will need to be at full strength and in tip-top form to win in Murrayfield on Saturday week.
We have known for a long time how important Johnny Sexton is to the squad; on Saturday we also learnt that Garry Ringrose is crucial in midfield where Saturday's combination of Bundee Aki and Stuart McCluskey were too alike to be able to man the 12 and 13 channels seamlessly like the Leinster man does week in and week out. Aki brings physicality and muscle and knows where the try-line is but he isn't subtle and doesn't read the opposition plays like Ringrose does.
Ross Byrne had a big test and showed up well but Craig Casey was too predictable and that allowed the Italian back row to arrive with the ball all too often as the No 10 was collecting it.
Despite all this, Ireland had withstood a home opening quarter of invention and heft to have their own bonus point secured by the 34th minute of the game thanks to tries by skipper James Ryan, Hugo Keenan, Aki and Mack Hansen’s bonus-point. It looked over at that stage until Aki presented our opponents with a try just by Pierre Bruno before the half-time whistle to bring them right back into the frame.
Farrell must have been livid with that mistake because Italy were as good as we thought and had the game right in the melting pot in the third quarter when there was only four points between the sides. Ireland had to take the conservative option with Byrne kicking a penalty to restore our lead to seven before Hansen got over for his second try after sub scrum half Conor Murray brilliantly linked up after breaking the gain line with 10 minutes remaining.
Farrell was left frustrated with the performance, even allowing for the number of changes. He bemoaned the number of try-scoring opportunities that the side left behind them and sloppiness in their play. "I suppose the positive is the chances that we did create but the negative is that we didn’t take them all again. What was it? Four or five tries that we left out there? But all credit must go to Italy, that was a proper Test match, that was tough. They’re a proper side, everyone can see their progression but when you’re here and when you’re facing it," he emphasized.
Referring to the Italians, he went on: "They were tough, they were resilient, in the forwards they gave us absolutely nothing and in defending their own line they were very physical. Then obviously in attack they were cutting us open from time to time, so congratulations to them, I thought it was great today. We let them into the game through lack of discipline at times and we didn’t control the game as well as we should in that regard.
"But Test match rugby does not go your own way the whole time but we found a way, even though we threw away four or five tries, we found a way and it’s nice to get the bonus point win away from home," he added.
Ireland: Hugo Keenan; James Lowe, Bundee Aki, Stuart McCloskey, Mack Hansen; Ross Byrne, Craig Casey; Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Finlay Bealham; Iain Henderson, James Ryan (capt); Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan. Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Dave Kilcoyne, Tom O'Toole, Ryan Baird, Peter O'Mahony, Conor Murray, Jack Crowley, Jimmy O'Brien.
