Italians sense our physical fragility

Tomorrow’s Rome result may not quality as do-or-die to the casual observer, but what happens over 80 minutes in the Olympic Stadium will have long-term repercussions for the management, players and IRFU as a whole.

There is a significant drop in prize money for each position in the Six Nations and as Lansdowne Road battles to fight off interest from France and further afield in our top players, an extra million euro can come in handy.

Ireland can finish either third or sixth depending on our result and the scoreline in the France-Scotland match. Given the injuries Declan Kidney has had to deal with, third place would be no bad achievement.