David Corkery
A win is a win, but the best team unquestionably lost.
It took for a raft of Irish substitutions to be launched from the bench in the second half of this game before Ireland were able to stem the flow of dominance that Italy brought to the capital.
Arriving in Dublin on the back of a great win over Scotland last week, Italy took to the pristine turf of the Aviva on Saturday afternoon with only one thing on their minds and that was to make it two wins from two outings in this year’s Six Nations.
Ireland on the other hand were looking to bounce back from their disastrous opener against France however, as the first forty minutes of this game ticked away it looked as Andy Farrell would be questioning his players intent once again come the post-match interview. Thankfully for everyone involved in this Irish squad the home team managed to find some wind to fill their sails in the second half and in doing so opened up a ten point lead.
Italy managed to claw it back to seven, but in the end time became the visitors nemesis and Ireland welcomed the final whistle and recorded what can only be described as a very fortunate win.
In very similar fashion to last week’s opening game against the French, Calen Doris and his players sat back and let their opponents take the game to them in the opening forty minutes.
Anything that Ireland threw at the Italians, the Italians doubled it and threw it right back and if the passion demonstrated by Italy during the singing of their national anthem was anything to go buy, Ireland were going to be in for a very long day at the office.
It almost looked as if Ireland thought that just because they were at home for this game that Italy would acknowledge this and lessen their efforts, but this was not to be the case.
Spearheaded by a tackle hungry backrow of Michele Lamaro, Manuel Zuliani and the industrious number eight Lorenzo Cannone, Italy came out on top in nearly every single collision and that can only come about as a result of sheer and utter complacency by the hosts.
It was very evident that the Italian players were more than willing to put their bodies on the line and it had to take for a chastising tongue lashing from Farrell at half-time before the Irish players were prepared to do the same.
The number ten debate has once again been thrown wide open after this game and if the Irish national team is picked on form rather than reputation, Sam Prendergast will not be part of next weeks squad that will be traveling to London to play against England.
Apart from missing two very easy conversions that any half decent junior player would convert with their none kicking leg, Prendergast failed miserably with his primary roll which is to guide his team around the pitch and keep them on the forward foot.
Many will argue that the Irish pack who was playing second fiddle in front of Prendergast didn’t give him an adequate supply of ball to work with, but at this level a world class fly-half should be able to make the most of anything they get and turn poor ball into momentum turning opportunities.
Great players don’t look for excuses and if the number on your back is 10 the expectations of the world will demand excellence in everything you do.
Maybe all the modern day external pressures of things like social media are starting to erode the twenty three year olds confidence, but if he can’t turn a blind eye to this and focus on the job he has chosen to earn a crust then maybe he should look at changing his approach to how Scotland’s Finn Russel goes about his business, which is with a carefree attitude.
On top of this if Prendergast or any of the team are struggling with the all too often horrible postings from social media, id ask the question, what are the IRFU doing about it. Surely they would have people and protocols in place to aid and support the players?
I will be shocked and very disappointed if Jack Crowley doesn’t start in next week’s game and we see Harry Byrne promoted to the bench.
As he did in the French tie Crowley made a very positive impact when he was introduced, and whilst his poorly executed kick to touch in the dying seconds of the game will haunt him, he certainly deserves a starting jersey at this point.
Another area of serious concern for Farrell ahead of next week’s mouthwatering tie against the English is the scrum. Maybe the Italians just have a very powerful and disruptive set piece, but when you see two starting British and Irish lions Dan in Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong getting folded in two on more than one occasion, there is something very wrong somewhere.
Robert Baloucoune, James Lowe and Jamie Osborne all played well and won most the aerial battles that they competed for, which was a major plus considering the poor returns they got against the French a week earlier.
As I said at the start a win is a win, but that same flame that was burning bright under this Andy Farrell guided set up is seriously starting to flicker now, and unless something radical is implemented this flame will very quickly be extinguished.
Interesting times ahead.