ELECTRIC ZEBO SETS NEW TONE

Italy offer little resistance but classy All Black-style score shows how Ireland should play

WHILE this result looks good on paper, I wouldn’t get overly excited. Nine tries would suggest that we should be singing from the rooftops, and there certainly was some very good play on display – but this result needs to be viewed with the perspective that Ireland were up against a depleted Italian team who are playing poorly.

Also, when you manage to get the tempo up early against the Italians and get some early scores on board, the passion is completely sucked from them.

This game turned on its head in the first few minutes. Gonzalo Garcia looked like he would finish in the corner to give the visitors an early lead, but some excellent defence from Conor Murray – who again proved himself to be so valuable as a defender – managed to shut down the opportunity and get Garcia’s foot in touch.

Listening to the ref-link at the stadium, the Italian talisman Sergio Parisse came across as a petulant child, constantly moaning and in the ear of Australian referee Angus Gardner. When things go wrong, they simply don’t have the leadership needed to lift the side. His lack of work at the breakdown also made it difficult for Francesco Minto to stem the tide.

Once Andrew Trimble went over and made it 5-0, you felt Ireland would cruise. Conditions were perfect – no wind, ideal temperature and most importantly, the excellent referring of Gardener. Yes, there might have been a couple of passes that led to tries than may have been argued, but his overall handling of the game and players was excellent.

There was a lot to Ireland’s performance, but one area that really stood out for me was the strength of the line-out. After it had malfunctioned so badly in London, it once again became a valuable weapon yesterday with Devin Toner lording the skies – both on Italian and Irish throws – which meant the Italian maul was unable to be used, and ensured Ireland a lot of possession.

Everyone realised Ireland could easily graft their way to a comfortable victory here, but we were all here in the hope of seeing a bit of class. We got that with Jamie Heaslip’s first try of the afternoon. Anyone who disappeared away to beat the queues in the Aviva Stadium bars late in the first half missed one of the best Irish tries we have seen for some time. Of all the Irish players, Simon Zebo played outside the now typical Joe Schmidt role, as he continually avoided direct contact by turning, shimmying and swaying, while always looking for the offload. The Munster player ignited the energy of the crowd each time he touched the ball, which is what we need to see more of from players in the green jersey.

On this occasion he gave a beauty of a backhand offload – albeit, for me, the wrong side of lateral. The play of Jared Payne steaming down the touchline beside him, along with the excellent handling of Sexton, Trimble and Fergus McFadden, was how Ireland need to be playing the game.

Heaslip, who has not stood out in the low-tempo slogging games of this campaign, came into his own as his big engine had him on end of the receiving pass, and he still had enough in the tank to pound his way over the line.

This was what everyone wants to see. In many ways it was typical of an All Black try – once you get the line-break, a good offload, a supporting player down the channel and everyone working their backsides off in support.

However, under Schmidt, the offload may unfortunately be viewed as something that shouldn’t have been done, but surely this has to be seen as way forward for this Ireland team.

The dominance continued in the second half, with Guglielmo Palazzani throwing a reckless missed pass that allowed Jared Payne to stroll in, before Heaslip burst over for his second with the help of Josh van der Flier.

To have the luxury of withdrawing both Rory Best and Sexton after 50 minutes showed what a rout this had become, and their replacements Sean Cronin and Ian Madigan thrived in the broken field play. Cronin’s line off Murray’s pass for his try was excellent, and Madigan’s pass to Cronin to set him flying towards the posts was a thing of beauty. Madigan also showed his own great running ability to get on the try-sheet himself.

Of course, Scotland will be a different case entirely today but there were plenty of positives to take here.

Ultan Dillane and Rhys Rudduck added a bit of oomph with their introductions, and the confidence this run-out will give to Ireland is excellent, but I really hope they can look back at that first Heaslip try and use it as a template of how Ireland should play the game going forward.

‘THE LINE-OUT ONCE AGAIN BECAME A KEY WEAPON FOR IRELAND’