Stander makes Ireland tick and also makes history with his hat-trick
CJ STANDER’S stellar season continued at the Stadio Olimpico as the Munster flanker became the first forward to score a hat-trick in the Six Nations.
Stander, who made 22 carries during a man-of-the-match showing, spearheaded a powerful display from fired-up Ireland, who steamrolled Italy with nine tries.
Having lost to the Scots in their opening game, Joe Schmidt’s Ireland bounced back in style and the head coach was effusive in his praise for blindside enforcer Stander.
‘CJ was really good today,’ said Schmidt. ‘Even the try-scoring aside… defensively he got off the line and got through a real volume of work and a lot of what he did didn’t result in tries for him but resulted in positive aspects of the game for us.
‘He’s a positive contributor and the one thing I would say is that we have a back row with big engines.
‘They put themselves about and the amount of time they have
involvements in games is very high. I think it certainly helps us to negotiate our way around the pitch.’
Following their 27-22 defeat at Murrayfield, the visitors got their championship campaign on track yesterday with Craig Gilroy also crossing for a hat-trick during the bonus-point romp. Keith Earls bagged a brace while Leinster centre Garry Ringrose crossed for a secondhalf try.
‘The most satisfying thing is that we got a performance,’ added Schmidt.
‘We didn’t just throw away what we did in Scotland. Some of what we did in Scotland — when you come from 21-5 down to 22-21 in front — you’ve obviously done some things that are positive.
‘We tried to maintain a lot of that and build on the consistency of it, and probably just built on the start and the continuation of pressure. We didn’t release the pressure valve.’
This 63-10 mauling proved a reality check for Italy head coach Conor O’Shea and his squad.
The former Harlequins boss is overseeing his first Six Nations in charge of the Azzurri and admitted his side were taught a harsh lesson. ‘In the first 20 minutes we took a battering — today was incredibly hard,’ said O’Shea.
‘If you cut everything back, Ireland are better than us at this stage and the physical battering we took, took its toll by the end of the game.’