Edgy Ireland repel Sergio Parisse powerplay

Ireland 16 Italy 9: JOE SCHMIDT had a feeling things would get tougher when Ireland’s World Cup bandwagon eventually ran into Italy.

He just didn’t expect its passengers to be so tense about the prospect.

An eerily quiet Irish team bus that pitched up at the Olympic Stadium yesterday pre-empted an equally strained performance that despite achieving the objective of the Pool D victory that secured a quarter-final berth has set the alarm bells ringing ahead of next Sunday’s even bigger challenge.