We will not be Farr away

IRELAND’S hopes of a restorative five-point win over Italy to set up a potential Six Nations title showdown with France are in some jeopardy.

Andy Farrell has already stated his belief the squad can recover from their Twickenham torment on Saturday week, followed by a duel for silverware in Paris on March 14.

But that Italian game is now in doubt, with the IRFU set to follow government advice as to how to proceed with the fixture over coronavirus fears.

Five thousand Italian fans are due to travel but the Covid-19 outbreak in their country has already put paid to Ulster’s PRO14 clash with Benetton this weekend.

But until he is told otherwise, Farrell must focus on the repair work that needs to be done after the 24-12 loss to England.

And the 45-year-old is convinced his team can still be realistic contenders.

“One hundred percent, I definitely do,” he insisted. “We’re in the same position as a few other teams and we need to be disappointed with this.

“Some might say the scoreline flattered us but at the end of the day it is a 12-point margin.

“We could have rolled over against a side that were desperate in England but we didn’t and we gave ourselves as good a chance as any.”

Farrell bristled when told that Eddie Jones gloated that if it had been a cricket game England could have declared at half-time.

He added: “But they didn’t, we can give ourselves credit for that. We started the second half pretty well with a bit of intent and, a good side like they are, they came back.

“But we finished the game off strongly and we’re in the competition. England’s won a couple, so have we – we have Italy next up and we need a top performance in that one.”

Farrell predicted that France – after wins against England, Italy and Wales – can still hit trouble.

“There will be ups and downs in their competition as well,” he said. “So it’s up to us to make sure that when we go there, that we try not to allow France to play the game they want to.”

Farrell says team selection against Italy will be “rationally” assessed.

The likes of John Cooney, Caelan Doris and Ronan Kelleher were already pushing hard to start while Keith Earls could also return from the start.

Cian Healy is a doubt after coming off with a hip injury on Sunday.

But, for Farrell, it’s about striking a balance between the promise of youth and stability of experience.

“Yes, food for thought but we’ve always had that in the back of our minds anyway,” he said. “We’ll assess it rationally and make sure we do right by the

team.”