Minor tweaks just the tonic for Irish lineout

'We’re constantly trying to tweak and fine-tune our individual drills. There was no revamp or anything, it was just keep doing what we’re doing,' said Ronan Kelleher.

IMPROVEMENTS MADE: Caelan Doris and Ronan Kelleher. Pic: Ryan Byrne, Inpho

Of the major positives witnessed in Marseille last Friday as Ireland rampaged past France to open their Guinness Six Nations title defence, the rebirth of the team’s lineout as a weapon might just have been the most impressive.

It was only a couple of months ago that IRFU performance director David Nucifora described Ireland’s World Cup lineout performance as “a bit of a challenge for us” and added: “We weren't as consistent as we'd have liked to be” as he discussed a campaign which fell short once again at the quarter-final stage.