Donal Lenihan: Every debate finds its way back to the future of Ireland's No. 10
Ireland's Johnny Sexton takes a kick at the Stadio Olimpico. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson
First, the good news. Ireland rediscovered their attacking flair in a comprehensive win over Italy in Rome.
Now the reality check. Having conceded 150 points and 19 tries in their three championship games to-date, Italy are rubbish.
Ireland’s game in Rome went entirely to script with a comprehensive bonus-point win over an Italian side who, apart from the delights of visiting Rome, bring little else to this tournament. With the coronavirus even taking that experience from us, they provide nothing more than a timely confidence booster for everyone else.
In a strange championship where the continued participation of the unbeaten French now depends on sports minister Roxana Maracineanu receiving a satisfactory report on the circumstances surrounding the severe Covid-19 outbreak within their bio-bubble, Wales remain on course for the most unlikely Grand Slam of all time with a Triple Crown already tucked away.
While they were good value for a superb 40-24 win over an incredibly indisciplined England side in Cardiff, their cause was aided no end by some bizarre calls from French referee Pascal Gauzere. Having had no luck whatsoever in his first year in charge, Welsh coach Wayne Pivac should be investing heavily in Lotto tickets right now.
From the moment Andy Farrell announced his much-changed side on Thursday, there was a balance and cutting edge to this Irish team that suggested nothing else to me other than a comfortable win.
Farrell may have stumbled on his best combination, especially up front, but we will suspend that verdict until the games against Scotland and England have been negotiated. With Peter O'Mahony, Caelan Doris, and, hopefully, Dan Leavy to come back into the equation at some stage, there is even further scope for improvement.
This is always a difficult game for players and management given that Italy are such an average side, a case of dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t. Ireland ticked every box they would have targeted in advance in terms of a solid set-piece, a dominant breakdown, and a lot more fluidity in attack, so there is much to be positive about.
Perhaps the most pleasing aspect was how much more dangerous Ireland looked when they held onto the ball and played out of the tackle. While one has to allow for the fact that, defensively, Italy fall off far too many tackles (26 in total on Saturday), Ireland must build on this template if they want to progress to the next level.
Any judgment call on the progression made in Ireland’s attacking structure in this championship also needs to be reserved until we see whether they choose to back themselves in a similar manner from broken play against the Scots and English rather than continuously looking to make progress through the boot.
To succeed at this level you have to produce a mix of both but, up to this game, the balance was wrong. Hugo Keenan offered a glimpse of what Ireland are capable of when counter-attacking from deep off Italian kicks and when running some great support lines up the middle of the field.
To this point in his fledgling international career, he has shown all the basic attributes in his quest to become the long-term successor to Rob Kearney at full-back in terms of his positional play and aerial prowess under the high ball. For that reason alone, he looked a more reliable bet than either of the recent pretenders in Jordan Larmour and Jacob Stockdale.
At hooker, Ronan Kelleher matched his excellent broken field contribution in terms of carrying, handling, and support play with a much more polished delivery at the set-piece which has been his undoing in the past.
All young hookers, including Keith Wood and Jerry Flannery before him, go through a phase early in their careers where their throwing comes under scrutiny. If Kelleher can maintain the consistency with his deliveries that he showed in this game then he has the capacity to be every bit as impactful as those two former Munster greats.
Ireland’s forward unit also looks more powerful and explosive when Iain Henderson, Tadhg Beirne, and James Ryan are all accommodated from the outset. Once Henderson proved his fitness after injury and Ryan recovered from the head knock sustained against Wales, Beirne had to start in the back row. He brings so much to the game in terms of his athleticism, his power over the ball as a poacher allied to his line out work that Ireland are a better overall package with that trio starting.
Perhaps the biggest improvement in Ireland’s game in the championship to date has been the speed with which they are recycling ball at the breakdown. In the first two outings they failed to maximise the return from that by kicking away so much of that hard-won possession.
This time out, they used that advantage to control the tempo of the game and take the Italians out of their comfort zone. A key contributor here was Jamison Gibson-Park who continuously stressed the Italian back row from broken play. It was also great to see him tap and go off a few penalties, something Craig Casey continued with an eye-catching debut off the bench, stressing the beleaguered Italian defence even further.
Ryan Baird also lived up to his pre-match billing with an equally impactful contribution on debut off the bench. Both of those former U20 Ireland teammates have much to contribute to the Irish cause in the years to come.
At the opposite extreme, Sexton underlined once more just how far ahead of the chasing pack he is at out-half with an outstanding overall performance, including a 100% return from his eight kicks at goal and a sumptuous pass off his left hand at the death for the other grandmaster of the team in Keith Earls, enabling him to register his 33rd international try.
A great weekend for Irish rugby was kick-started on Friday night with Joey Carbery’s long-awaited return to action off the Munster bench. In the ongoing debate as to who will eventually fill Sexton’s boots on the international stage, it was great to see Carbery take a first tentative step in over a year to put his name back in the frame.
Perhaps the weekend also served to remind us of the one that got away in the great Irish out half debate. Having turned down the opportunity to play for Wales at U20 level in 2015 to feature in an Irish U19 side, for the second game in a row, Callum Sheedy came off the Welsh bench to play an influential part in fashioning an unlikely Welsh victory.
Born in Cardiff to a Welsh mother and Irish father, Sheedy always displayed a close affinity to his Irish heritage. Having replaced Ian Madigan as first-choice No. 10 with the Bristol Bears under Pat Lam England, for whom he qualified on residency grounds, were also chasing him.
Last autumn, he finally opted for Wales and, ironically, won his first cap off the bench against Ireland in Dublin. The highly impressive manner with which he closed out the win over England on Saturday, having replaced Dan Bigger after 44 minutes, suggests the answer to the out-half dilemma may have been under our noses all along.
Only time will tell.
