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Match Report - Error ridden Ireland struggle past Italy in Rome

Jacob Stockdale scores against Italy

Stuttering Ireland tiptoed out of Rome with an unconvincing 26-16 Guinness Six Nations victory, claiming the four-try bonus point but suffering a serious scare from Conor O’Shea’s men.

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Quinn Roux, Jacob Stockdale, Keith Earls and Conor Murray crossed for an Ireland side again struggling for fluency and rhythm.

Edoardo Padovani and Luca Morisi bagged tries for Italy to lead 16-12 at half-time, but Ireland edged home to leave the Azzurri still without a Six Nations win under O’Shea’s stewardship.

Ireland’s niggles were underlined by Johnny Sexton muttering angrily to himself and kicking out in frustration when he was replaced late on for Jack Carty to make his Test debut.

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Bundee Aki suffered a head injury and Sexton played through a minor leg problem that led to Murray taking over goal-kicking duties.

Head coach Joe Schmidt wanted Ireland – and chiefly half-backs Murray and Sexton – to rediscover the rhythm which underscored their stellar 2018.

That fluency continues to elude Ireland and their British and Irish Lions playmakers, but Schmidt’s men must at least be credited for emerging unscathed from a tricky situation.

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Captain on the day Peter O’Mahony admitted beforehand that Ireland’s 22-15 defeat to Italy in Rome in 2013 still sends shivers down his spine.

The Munster flanker led his men to avoid any further such trauma at the Stadio Olimpico then, but this was another Ireland performance littered with indiscipline and inaccuracy.

Roux and Stockdale handed the visitors the perfect start with two tries in the first quarter, but Ireland had already wasted several scoring platforms by that point.

Connacht lock Roux capped a 19-phase move by ploughing in for Ireland’s first try, with Stockdale then exploiting a cheap Italy knock-on to canter home almost unimpeded.

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Sean Cronin was busy in the carry but neglected to look after his line out throwing at Stadio Olimpico (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Both Italy tries came from Ireland errors, first Ireland overthrew a line-out in their own 22 and Italy pounced, Tommaso Allan firing a ball over the top for Padovani to nip home.

Then Tito Tebaldi pinched the ball at the base of an Ireland ruck to spark a field-length counter-attack which ended in centre Morisi powering over the whitewash.

Ireland’s half-time problems could even have been worse, had full-back Rob Kearney been punished for what appeared a deliberate block on Tebaldi.

The marauding Italy scrum-half chased his chip deep in Ireland territory when Kearney stepped into his path and sent him tumbling.

Referee Glen Jackson ignored the incident entirely though, in a clear let-off for Schmidt’s men.

Ireland improved after the break, though in truth not nearly enough to touch anything like the heights of the 2018 that included the Grand Slam and the November win over New Zealand.

Earls stepped his way over the line to wrestle back Ireland’s lead, before Murray’s sniping finish secured the try bonus.

Munster flyer Earls so nearly claimed the score of the match, only to be dragged down mere metres short. Italy fell for the latest Schmidt special move, with this one seeing Sexton run a wraparound decoy line allowing Earls to blast through midfield.

Hauled down just shy of the line though, his pass fell astray and the move broke down.

Job done for Ireland in the end, but precious little else, leaving Schmidt’s men needing to step up several levels to face France and Grand Slam-chasing Wales.

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NH 19 minutes ago
Harness Skelton's might and move Sua'ali'i: How the Wallabies can fix things for Test two

Nice one Nick. I was a fan of Joe’s appointment and think in general he has done well, and I even think the game plan last week was ok, but I am not sold he has gotten his selections right for this series. As everyone has detailed, the pack was too small last week. This week, he has brought in skelton and valetini which is an improvement physicality-wise but now the back 5 is out of balance with only one legitimate lineout option in Frost. The wallabies were poor in the lineout and it meant they couldn’t get into the lions 22 in the 1st half. Its also where most WBs tries originate from. Are they going to opt for a scrum every penalty they get? 3 man lineouts? And as you show, Suaalii is simply too hesitant in D. I guess drifting is better than biting in and taking yourself out of play, but he doesn’t do much more in that last clip. Maxy has 2 involvements in that play, suaalii none. At this rate, Chieka was quicker and better at integrating marika who had more to do to learn the game, than Joe with suaalii.


Do you think that Joe is hesitant to put Suaalii on the wing because he would be exposed in the backfield in terms of kicking, positioning etc? This is the only justification I can think of and also maybe why he has picked the likes of max, potter and kellaway over the likes of daugunu, pietsch and toole. The difference in selection philosophy between schmidt and rennie has come into clear focus to me recently in terms of brain vs braun, power vs graft, workrate vs impact. In my opinion, Schmidt needed to make a hard decision on starting skelton vs a backrow that had bobby and wilson in it and he hasn’t done that. I also feel like he is almost picking a team to minimise the loss rather than win. I think starting a tate, or a pietsch, or bell could’ve signalled some more intent.

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