Ireland count cost of injuries

Ireland, sitting on top of the RBS 6 Nations table after the opening two rounds, were today counting the cost of a frenetic start to the new condensed championship.

Ireland made it two wins in seven days, both of them away from home, with an emphatic 37-13 success over the revitalised Italians in Rome and headed back for Dublin in desperate need of some respite.

Already shorn of a trio of first-choice backs through injury, Ireland suffered another body blow with the loss of loose-head prop Reggie Corrigan, who will miss the rest of the championship after breaking a wrist in Saturday’s match at Stadio Flaminio.

With hooker Keith Wood still sidelined with a long-term shoulder problem, Ireland’s resources are already being severely stretched, less than halfway through the new-look championship.

Even before Saturday’s match, coach Eddie O’Sullivan expressed his concern over the amended format which forces teams to cram five internationals into a seven-week period and the injury to Corrigan has galvanised the Irish criticism.

“Losing Reggie is a blow, he’s one of our leaders,” said experienced winger Denis Hickie.

“It’s unfortunate for Reggie but it’s a bit inevitable that, when you are playing week after week at this intensity, you are going to pick up injuries.

“It’s something they are going to have to look at. We have a small pool of players and it will hit a team like Ireland more than England and France.”

At least Ireland have a two-week break before they play their next match, against France at Lansdowne Road, and they have time to bask in their new-found status as championship pacesetters.

A five-try triumph over the fired-up Italians was not without its blemishes but the Azzurri are no pushovers under former All Black wing John Kirwan, as Wales found to their cost.

“When we came off the pitch, we were a little bit disappointed with the way we played,” said a reflective Hickie.

“Humphs had a good game but a few of us were not particularly happy with our performances.

“But, as the night wore on, we realised that the effect of the Scotland game six days earlier and all the travelling probably caught up with us a bit. We were a bit lethargic.

“It’s very hard to play against Italy and we were away from home. The Italians are totally unrecognisable from the team they were in terms of organisation and defence. They are a hard nut to crack.

“Having scored five tries and won by a good margin, it was a good result.

“We will need to be better against France but it was only our second game. We’ve a bit of a break now, two or three days off before we come back into camp.”

O’Sullivan’s deputies actually emerged with reputations enhanced as Ireland successfully followed up their opening 36-6 win over Scotland.

Leicester’s Geordan Murphy slotted effortlessly into Girvan Dempsey’s full-back role, Munster’s John Kelly hardly resembled a third-choice wing and David Humphreys will take some shifting from the fly-half spot after another man-of-the-match show.

The 31-year-old Ulsterman, Ireland’s most capped fly-half and their record scorer, produced another accomplished display and has now rattled up 43 points in two matches as a replacement for the injured Ronan O’Gara.

Yet even Humphreys could not take the limelight away from Ireland’s talismanic skipper Brian O’Driscoll, who scored his 18th try on his 35th appearance to break Brendan Mullin’s Irish record.

Still only 24, O’Driscoll strengthens his reputation as the world’s best centre with every match he plays and has the chance to set a new tryscoring mark that may never be beaten.

“He’s going very well,” admitted Hickie. “I don’t think he was too happy with his game but it’s a sign of a great player if he can still get in for a try and turn it on when he has to.

“He’s certainly the best outside centre in the world in my view and I don’t think there will be too many disagree with that.”