A wing and a prayer for versatile Kieran Marmion

You can picture the scene at half-time. Organised chaos.

Panting players streaming in the door of the dressing-room, coaches preparing nuggets of info, and maybe the odd Churchillian speech, while medics and physios nurse battered and bruised bodies into some sort of shape before the resumption of hostilities.

By the time Ireland reached the sanctuary of their ‘shed’ for the pause on Saturday evening, the game had already began to take an ominous turn what with Australia’s opening try moments before the interval and a casualty list that seemed to be expanding exponentially.