6N 2016: Ireland v Italy, 12 March

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IRELAND v ITALY
12 March 2016
KO: 13:30 GMT
Aviva Stadium, Dublin

Live on RTE, DMAX, ITV, FR2 / BBC (H)

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Touch judges: [tbc]
Television match official: [tbc]

A. Head to Head

16 Played 16
15 Won 1
0 Drawn 0
1 Lost 15
519 Points 209

B. Recent Form

4 October 2015: Olympic Stadium, London, England
16 – 9 to Ireland
2015 Rugby World Cup Pool D

7 February 2015: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
3 – 26 to Ireland
2015 Six Nations Championship

8 March 2014: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
46 – 7 to Ireland
2014 Six Nations Championship

16 March 2013: Stadio Olimpico, Rome
22 – 15 to Italy
2013 Six Nations Championship

25 February 2012: Aviva Stadium, Dublin
42 – 10 to Ireland
2012 Six Nations Championship

C. Teams

IRELAND
 
[tbc]

ITALY

[tbc]

JmD wrote:I don't know if I've seen this referee before, but agreed.

Trimble and Earls have both taken early knocks. Thankfully we have the illustrious Fergus McFadden ready to go. With his versatility, he should have no problem coming on for both at the same time.

Give it a rest, Ireland are now playing? Support your bloody team. All of the team.

wolfball wrote:

JmD wrote:I don't know if I've seen this referee before, but agreed.

Trimble and Earls have both taken early knocks. Thankfully we have the illustrious Fergus McFadden ready to go. With his versatility, he should have no problem coming on for both at the same time.

Give it a rest, Ireland are now playing? Support your bloody team. All of the team.

Too right

wolfball wrote:

JmD wrote:I don't know if I've seen this referee before, but agreed.

Trimble and Earls have both taken early knocks. Thankfully we have the illustrious Fergus McFadden ready to go. With his versatility, he should have no problem coming on for both at the same time.

Give it a rest, Ireland are now playing? Support your bloody team. All of the team.

Odd, I missed the part where I said "come on Italy".

Is it just me or is our defence a lot less passive this week

So Irish players can run fast, pass quickly and accurately, and score tries.

We learn something new every day.

Good tackle ferg

So if McFadden isnt trusted in the centre how is he there for his versatility?

Get the feck in there

What a try!!!

Will Zebo be dropped for next week? How dare he try an offload!

Oh My God

Lovely stuff from Zebo. I wish he would get a game on the wing where his weaknesses with the boot aren't as important.

That was something special.

Heslip great support

McFadden showing his worth :p

Starting to click with the new gameplan. Great to see. Notice alot of players looking to offload and stopping at last second unless its fully on (henshaw, heaslip, earls all nearly offloaded then stopped themselves). Then we offload when its on and we score a couple of tries with offloads involved. Great to see the balance and decision making.

Stander/McGrath stand out forwards, Henshaw and Earls looking very lively in the backs.

So in this half wehave been mre aggressive in defence, shown good offloads good support and more importantly accuracy.
Where has this been hidding

Absolutely superb try at the end there for Heaslip but what a run and offload by Zebo

Ireland actually keeping the ball in hand, running at pace and offloading. Superb pass from Earls earlier on in the lead up to CJ's try.

Josh v/d Flier is also having an excellent game.

This was the performance I was hoping for.

Ireland truly on top playing some of the best rugby we have seen all 6ns


Cannot see Italy coming back from this onslaught that Ireland are giving them right now.

But if Gwlad was on these boards he would that Ireland only scored the points they have because Italy are a weak side.

But from my point of view well played Ireland deserve leaders at this point in time.

I can't imagine we'd be seeing this great attacking rugby with Rob Kearney at 15... Zebo makes such a difference.

I also have to say that Dev Toner has had an excellent game as well. Been very good in the line out.

majesticimperialman wrote:Ireland truly on top playing some of the best rugby we have seen all 6ns


Cannot see Italy coming back from this onslaught that Ireland are giving them right now.

But if Gwlad was on these boards he would that Ireland only scored the points they have because Italy are a weak side.

But from my point of view well played Ireland deserve leaders at this point in time.

Dont be silly its because World rugby are based in Dublin....

majesticimperialman wrote:Ireland truly on top playing some of the best rugby we have seen all 6ns


Cannot see Italy coming back from this onslaught that Ireland are giving them right now.

But if Gwlad was on these boards he would that Ireland only scored the points they have because Italy are a weak side.

But from my point of view well played Ireland deserve leaders at this point in time.

There is a lot of truth in that ,I suppose the hope for Ireland is that by getting a game where it clicks we'll be better at this type of play when we come up against the tougher teams.It was never going to happen straight away and the fact that our set-piece is functioning is a huge help also.We need to kick on now and really bury Italy ,hopefully this is a turning point for the team.

RTE panel hinting at Conor O Shea heading to Italy?

Gordon D'Arcy is the Michael Owen of rugby punditry.

Powerful performance from Ireland here. Italy all at sea!

Ireland playing some great stuff ... possibly fortunate that the 7 didn't get pinged for holding back a defender for the 2nd try but good for their lead and it's looking ominous for Italy now.

5 players from Connacht on the pitch. Has that happened before? Great to see them getting rewarded for their form

Predicted (prayed for) 45 point win on superbru... 1 more unconverted try would be lovely now

Golden wrote:5 players from Connacht on the pitch. Has that happened before? Great to see them getting rewarded for their form

Loving it as a connacht fan! 2/5 new caps for ireland this six nations for connacht and a 6 nations debut for Marmion.

Shytee there goes my superbru

Nice to see a try for Glasgow-bound Sarto.

Dreadful stuff from Ireland. Italy twice in a row now.

Feargal McFaidin makes up for it.

Full time 58-15

wolfball wrote:Predicted (prayed for) 45 point win on superbru... 1 more unconverted try would be lovely now

Only 2 points away. Not bad

What has Conor Oshea let himself in for?!? Well played Ireland

A good win for Ireland today.

I don't think any one predicted Ireland would get this many points....I know i did'nt thats for sure.


Italy though must be given full credit for not giving up, even though it was a done deal that Ireland could not loose the game.


Again well played Ireland good win.

Fantastic win for Ireland but I am not sure Italy were at the races today.

Heaslip, Stander, v/d Flier all had excellent games. Marmion looked excellent when he came on as well.

I still stand by my points that McCloskey and Jackson should have been in the match day squad ahead of Madigan and McFadden. That may seem harsh as both scored tries today but just feel McCloskey and Jackson bring more.

Very happy with the result but more so with the way Ireland approached the game. The set piece functioned excellently and gave the backs so much room.

No credit should be given to Italy, in their last five six nations game they've conceded 218 points, this is supposed to be the premier European competition and their defence is second rate.....dare I say it georgia may have conceded less points

That was some much needed rugby therapy for us Irish. It shows how we can play when the confidence to actually play rugby shows up. I very much enjoyed that, Schmidt IN!!!

And the ref today I thought was excellent.

carpet baboon wrote:And the ref today I thought was excellent.

I was worried because he looked like Wayne Barnes but a great reffing display indeed.

carpet baboon wrote:And the ref today I thought was excellent.

Schmidt IN, ref IN!

He was consistent throughout the game. Which is what we all want

Its ironic that McFadden was slated for his versatility only to end up playing in three separate positions across the duration of the game. Some humble pie to be eaten? I must admit I doubted that call only for circumstances to prove me wrong

He played well. The centres played very well too, individually and as a a unit. Italy were poor but it's all positive and Schmidt was validated.

Schmidt validated?

Not so sure about that to be honest. It was a great win against a very faltering Italian side that had enough injury issues on their own. It was a papering over the cracks win in my opinion. It was the perfect chance to bed long term partnerships in place.

I still see no justification in selecting McFadden over McCloskey or the selection of Madigan over Jackson.

Schmidt is absolutely not validated. Just because McFadden didn't have a howler doesn't make it a better call to have him on the bench than someone younger who could have done with the experience. Madigan likewise. Today would have been perfect to give Jackson 30 minutes.

I'll admit I was calling for the inclusion of new players in the match day squad, particularly Denis Buckley, McCloskey and Jackson, over the likes of McFadden and Madigan. But while watching today's game and seeing Ireland actually trying to execute a expansive style (albeit against a very poor Italy side), I realised that in building this new system, it is important that we have the best 15 on the pitch and 23 in the squad available for that plan. And Joe knows best the personnel he needs to carry that out. So benefit of the doubt given, even though I still think we could get more from some of the players who didn't turn out today. McFadden and Madigan both played well when they came on, so in Joe we Trust. He has earned the right and if anyone could get Ireland playing an open ball-game it is him.

But then I see things like this: http://www.the42.ie/ireland-scotland-kearney-healy-reddan-six-nations-2656523-Mar2016/

You just have to question the logic. What is the value of bringing in a 35 year old scrum-half for the last game when we saw today that Marmion can bring much the same qualities and is growing into the role of understudy? Why is Cian Healy being continuously parachuted into the squad while so badly out of form when there are better options at other provinces? And while Zebo may still be questionable defensively, did we really miss Kearney that much today? Sometimes you have to question if Joe needs his Leinster comfort blankets around him, while having the blinkers on for other squads.

The new caps this six nations have largely been due to key injuries elsewhere, not to transition into the new world cup phase. And although Connacht have the highest number of internationals in the squad in their history, only one of them would probably be in the 23 if it wasn't for injuries.

So I would say he was validated from the game today (although Italy were poor I though Ireland were very strong), but he lost some of that validation in the post match presser.

wolfball wrote:

carpet baboon wrote:And the ref today I thought was excellent.

Schmidt IN, ref IN!

The ref communicated very well. Good manner.

Notch wrote:Its ironic that McFadden was slated for his versatility only to end up playing in three separate positions across the duration of the game. Some humble pie to be eaten? I must admit I doubted that call only for circumstances to prove me wrong

He played well. The centres played very well too, individually and as a a unit. Italy were poor but it's all positive and Schmidt was validated.

Earls moved into centre when Henshaw went off.

True Raven wrote:No credit should be given to Italy, in their last five six nations game they've conceded 218 points, this is supposed to be the premier European competition and their defence is second rate.....dare I say it georgia may have conceded less points

This Italy team is not one to be judging, the number of players out and part timers playing it was Brunel experimenting as he had nothing to lose by it. Georgia would have been without half their squad too as they would be mysteriously unavailable or not selected