Joe Schmidt’s teams are renowned for their intricate set plays but in the end there was nothing complicated about this. Keep the ball and make the opposition tackle. Even that was beyond them for large stretches of this match – pretty much the entire first half, for a start – and if Ireland spill as much ball as this against better opposition the defence of their title may yet come unstuck. In the end, though, the 205 tackles that Italy were obliged to make proved too much, and Ireland put the game to bed with two tries in as many minutes in the final quarter.
Around 110 of those tackles had been made between half-time and that brace of tries either side of the 65-minute mark. It was an extraordinary spell of possession monopolisation by Ireland. Italy coped with it comfortably enough. Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne were each put away by Simon Zebo for a gallop down the left, but as so often Ireland spilled the ball as the line approached both times. Otherwise it was an exercise in routine tackle practice for Italy. It’s just that it went on for a very long time.
In that period, all Italy offered up was a penalty. It was at a scrum, which they were deemed to have wheeled, but the whole notion of penalties awarded at scrum time was a travesty, on a pitch where the top soil was as loose as a rug. Italy generally seemed to have the upper hand at that set piece when purchase was available under foot, but their lineout was less effective. Devin Toner gave the Italians a torrid time on their own ball, and so the few opportunities they could muster to build something were often squandered. It was a shame, because when they played it was with ambition.
There was a step change in Ireland’s game after half-time, which suggested adjustment by Schmidt. Their decision-making in the first half was questionable, favouring a tighter game round the fringes for much of it, then just as they were offered a juicy attacking position with a lineout from a penalty (another scrum “offence”), they chose to spin it wide. Italy handled it comfortably. At least, they chose to drive the next penalty they kicked to the corner (one of those offsides deemed deliberate from a team-mate’s knock-on), and the fly-half Ian Keatley was able to kick his third penalty when Italy came in at the side, opening up a 9-0 lead a few minutes before the break, which flattered them, for all their possession.
Keatley, Jonathan Sexton’s stand-in, grew into the game after a few handling wobbles and charged down kicks early on. He didn’t miss any of his five shots at goal. But it was that change of tack after the break that ultimately won Ireland the game, moving the ball wider earlier on and, crucially (hardly a tactical adjustment, this), not dropping the ball so often.
Not that it looked very impressive –Italy met them on the gain-line and often drove them back – but they moved the ball swiftly enough to engage Italy’s defenders repeatedly. The home team’s tackle count ballooned by around 50 in the first seven minutes of the second half.
It took its toll. Ireland’s lineout and drive caused Italy serious problems just after the hour mark. Leonardo Ghiraldini was penalised for coming in at the side, which proved one offence too many, and he saw yellow. Ireland regrouped for another drive, and Conor Murray darted through a thicket of defenders for the try that secured them the game.
Within a minute of the restart, Tommy O’Donnell, who was a late call-up when Sean O’Brien strained a hamstring in the last moments of the warm-up, galloped past an exhausted Martin Castrogiovanni and through Andrea Masi’s tackle for a try to cap an excellent match for the Munster flanker, particularly in view of the circumstances. It was a huge disappointment for O’Brien, whose long exile from the international game through injury will be extended at least another week. Schmidt expressed optimism that he might be fit for next weekend’s game against France but O’Donnell has done all he can to complicate the situation, should he come through.
Schmidt was only half happy with a performance, indeed a game, that was somewhat overshadowed by events the night before. “I don’t think we would have lived with England on last night’s form,” he said. “I’d say we were 30 to 40% off. We’re going to have to up our game.”
That they will no doubt do, with Jamie Heaslip and Sexton close to a return. As an exercise without them, this was little more than an acceptable opening of the defence of their title. For Italy, though, the trip to Twickenham looms as an ominous prospect.
