'We haven't maxed our potential' - Skipper Doris insists much more to come

PLENTY TO PLOT: Interim head coach Simon Easterby, left, and Caelan Doris during an Ireland Rugby captain's run at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Ireland captain Caelan Doris insisted none of his players had maxed out on their potential and his team had a lot more growth in them as they targeted ending the Guinness Six Nations with a morale-boosting victory against Italy on Saturday.

With up to 30,000 Irish supporters set to invade Stadio Olimpico under different circumstances then they may have imagined following a devastating home defeat to France seven days earlier, Doris gave an upbeat assessment of his team as they look to rebound from that Grand Slam-ending loss with their best performance of the championship.

The skipper is hoping a victory over Italy can return Ireland to the upward trajectory he feels they were on before the 42-27 Dublin loss to the French even though their Six Nations title chances have been reduced to a long shot.

“Definitely I think from an individual point of view, you look at any one player and there’s no way we’ve maxed out our potential,” Doris said on Friday following his captain’s run training session at the 68,000-capacity stadium in Rome.

“I know from how I've gone this campaign that I feel like still have a lot more in me and it’s the same across the board with a lot of the lads, and even from an individual point of view, getting our performances up five, 10 per cent will contribute a lot to a better team performance. But collectively I feel there’s a lot more growth in us.” 

Doris added that he believes the best of Ireland will come against the Italians, who are battling to finish ahead of winless Wales in the final standings with the Welsh looking to end a 16-Test losing streak at home to England later in the day.

Ireland have been searching for an 80-minute performance all through the campaign but the No.8 said: “I am confident we can do it, I think it’s been a good week, I think we’ve addressed some of the wrongs from last weekend, some of our conversion in their 22, some of our contacts, sort of middle 25 minutes of the second half, hoping to see good fixes from that tomorrow.” 

He also poured scorn on the idea that the French loss had rendered this final-round fixture an anti-climax with so much support in the stadium.

“Obviously there was quite a bit of disappointment for 24, 48 hours post-game and it can be tricky seeing some of the clips back and the images and the frustration around that. But we turned the page quite quickly and getting excited about a special weekend over here with our best performance yet in front of, I believe there are 25,000 or 30,000 Irish travelling over, which will be incredibly special.”