JOE HAS BIG GAPS TO FILL
Henshaw a huge loss with Schmidt’s leaky defence still not fixed
THIS was surreal. At the interval, with Ireland 28 points clear and a four-try bonus point already secured, the feeling was some long-standing championship benchmarks would tumble by the finish.
It was 2001 at Twickenham when England filleted Italy to the tune of 80 points and 10 tries in a 57-point victory. Those three Six Nations records — highest score, most tries and largest margin of victory — were all under threat here, so onesided was the opening period on a dry afternoon perfectly made for running rugby. Come the conclusion, though, it was a very different record that came within a whisker of being rewritten. Not since 2007, when they ambushed a terrible Scotland at Murrayfield, had the Azzurri scored four tries in a championship match.
But if Keith Earls had not done his best Usain Bolt impersonation to successfully chase down Mattia Bellini, who raced clear after picking off a Joey Carbery pass, the Italians would have headed back to Rome with the bizarre consolation of a four-try bonus point that was unimaginable at the interval.
The limited Azzurri attack was amateurish when presented its best opportunity of the first half off a penalty kicked to the corner — Jacob Stockdale’s no-release on 39 minutes the first of just three penalties the hosts conceded (replacements Kieran Marmion and CJ Stander were done at defensive rucks later).
However, instead of launching their maul, they were humiliated by Braam Steyn flapping one-handed and knocking on at an uncontested lineout, where Ireland opted not to put up a single jumper.
Embarrassment to nourishment, though, was the enriching path Ireland sloppily allowed the routed visitors to travel, in a match where they could and should have been held scoreless to send out a strong message that this Irish defence means business, no matter what personnel they have on the park.
Instead, the table shows that while Joe Schmidt’s side are top of the ladder with a +2 points differential better than champions England, who are also on nine points after two wins, they have conceded four tries in 160 minutes of rugby. That is a stat not complimentary to the belief that this Ireland squad is poised to clinch a championship. Defence wins titles and seven of the last 10 champions have been crowned through being the country to concede the fewest tries in a season. Ireland are already now two concessions worse than the English. All the more troubling is how Saturday’s second-half leakage was self-inflicted, and how two of the three scores being instigated from outside the 22 suggests the weakness Teddy Thomas exposed from distance the week before in Paris wasn’t rectified. Dan Leavy and Jacob Stockdale were the statuesque culprits who permitted Tommaso Castello the line he ran to create the first score. Debutant Jordan Larmour was left looking foolish when given the slip on thehalfway line by Matteo Minozzi to spark the second. Then defending in the 22, Larmour was outsmarted when shooting out of the defensive line and not being able to make up the ground on Minozzi when the ball was moved out wide for the third. The much-hyped 20year-old rookie shouldn’t be pilloried for his errors, though. His step was a class above when he carried some minutes later, but defensive security is the currency that Ireland demands most from its players. Collectively, bearings were lost and concentration broken amid their wholesale bench changes, the key departure being Robbie Henshaw and his smashedup shoulder.
He is the defensive lynchpin and will be sorely missed from the remainder of the championship. Adequately filling his shoes in 12 days’ time will be quite the headache in attempting to replicate England’s shut-out of the try-less Welsh.
It won’t be the only selection teaser. The elusive Jack Conan did enough in his 40-minute appearance to suggest he is genuinely a different type of threat to the contact-seeking CJ Stander, while Iain Henderson’s lack of authority was rather deflating after the high of France. He needs to start stringing excellence together in back-to-back games instead of being up and down.
Getting the hamstrung Tadhg Furlong fit is another priority. As good as understudy Andrew Porter was, there are only so many best players Ireland can do without. Before Italy’s scores arrived out of nothing, this initially shaped up to be a record-breaking Irish performance despite instances of flaky handling.
They were generally clinical in taking care of first-half business, needing just the same 35 minutes required in Rome last year to net the four-try bonus.
Once they quickened up their pedestrian ruck from Stade de France, their untouchable halfbasks had time to unleash a playbook full of tricks and loops.
Their 14-19 ‘loss’ in the closing stages was quite the black mark after the praises of the bench impact had been sung in Paris. This defensive aberration can’t be repeated. IRELAND: R Kearney 6; K Earls 7, R Henshaw 7 (J Larmour 5, 45), BAki6,JS to ck dale6;JS ext on 7( J Carbery 6, 51), C Murray 8 (K Marmion 5, 51); JMc Gr ath7(CHealy 5,68) RB est 7 (S Cronin 5, 61), T Furlong NR (A Porter 7, 4), I Henderson 5 (Q Roux 4, h-t) D Toner 6, PO’ Mah ony7,DLeavy 6, J Conan 7 (CJ Stander 6, h-t). ITALY: MM in ozzi 6; TB enve nu ti 4, TB oni5(J Hayward 5,54), T Castello 6, M Bellini 6, T Allan 5, M Violi 5 (E Gori 6, 57); N Quaglio 5 (A Lovotti 5, 37) LBigi 5( LG hi r al dini6,45),S Ferrari 4 (T Pasquali 6, 54), A Zanni 6, D Budd 6, S Negri 6 (F Ruzza 6, 57), A Steyn 5 (M Mbanda 6, 45), S Parisse 5. Referee: R Poite (France).