Andy Farrell maintained he was “very pleased” with the 34-20 bonus-point win over Italy in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico which ensured Ireland have completed a maximum haul of 15 points from their opening three Six Nations games.
“Yeah, we’re very pleased to come away with a bonus-point win,” said the Irish head coach. “We played against a bloody good side today, we’ve known and you guys have known that for a good while now. That was a proper Test match.
“Yes, we can say that we were off in certain parts or whatever, but like any Test match the opposition is going to have a say in how the game unfolds and they had a big say.
“I thought they were very resilient, it must have been a real tough battle in the forwards, they were solid where the maul was concerned, the goal-line defence kept us out time and time again.
“On the back of that, they cut us open quite a few times with their attack. You talk about the game in that fashion, but to come away with a bonus-point win; we’ll take that and move on.”
Farrell’s reaction underlined the newfound respect for an Italian team which scored two tries, created six line breaks (to Ireland’s eight) and made Ireland miss 27 tackles. That illustrated the Irish performances wasn’t without its flaws, and Farrell also bemoaned the two times Ireland dropped the ball over the line.
“Room to improve? We need to take our chances. Take all the emotion out of the game, I think Mack Hansen dropped a ball clean just before half-time, James Lowe dropped a ball over the try-line, we gave an intercept try away.
“So, we probably should have, could have would have had a better lead going into half-time.
“You just know with the Italians; I was saying to Kieran [Crowley] before the game, with the character they’re showing they don’t go away any more, do they?
“They continue to fight, we knew that was going to happen again in the second half after the little bit of a piggyback we gave them with the try before half-time.
“They showed the character of staying with it; certainly in the first two games of this competition anyway and so in that regard the best part of our game was staying in.
“The bench was excellent coming on. Nice and calm, accurate and added to the performance which was great.
“I thought we showed great character actually, to just keep playing our game. We found a way. With 15, 20 minutes to go we found a way to keep getting over the gainline, keep asking some questions and the final try we scored was a class, character-type try.
“The character of the last 20 minutes was really pleasing.”
Regarding the performance of Ross Byrne, Farrell said: “I thought he did great. It was a big day for Ross, having the responsibility to lead the side and he was very impressive during the week. How he ran the side and yeah, delighted that he has come away with a nice win in the end.”
Farrell also confirmed that Finlay Bealham twisted his knee before being replaced by Tom O’Toole in the 37th minute.
“Obviously he went down straight away, which says something doesn’t it? He tried his best to fight on. He’s in a brace there in the changingroom, he says he’s fine but he always says that, so we will assess him again in the morning.”
The performance was never going to be perfect given both the halfback pairing and the rearranged midfield combination were both starting games together for the first time.
“Some good, some improving to do,” Farrell said of the midfield. “I thought defensively we were a bit off at times, certainly set-piece wise, etc. Some brilliant in that regard. Stu and Bundee individually made some good inroads. It’s a new partnership coming together with a new halfback partnership. It’s always going to be tested under pressure when you are playing against a good side like that.
“But I thought they came through the game pretty well all in all. I thought we missed one or two chances that we need to review and realise, so there’s always room for improvement there.”
All in all, Farrell had no difficulty in admitting it had been an uncomfortable afternoon.
“Of course. They are a good side. I mean, the two sides that have just played them were exactly the same. They are growing and have some great momentum within the game.
“Through our lack of discipline at times, we gave them field position. They were in control for a couple of periods but again, we managed to stay in the fight there and get ourselves back into it, which was pleasing.”
As to how Ireland need to improve for the forthcoming game against Scotland on Sunday week at Murrayfield, Farrell said: “I don’t know. Each game takes its own course. I keep saying it, the French game, that was a pretty good performance. You’d say Welsh game was a pretty good performance, so we know it’s in us.”
James Ryan, who opened the scoring and led Ireland to a fifth win in his seventh outing as captain, admitted: “It was a tough game. I think defensively it was probably one of the toughest performances we have had for a while. You can see how they have come on.
“They play a lovely brand of rugby and they like to play the ball a lot. They’re ambitious in attack and play inside their own half at times. So it was tough for us. We had to dig in.
“I enjoyed the week and my job was pretty easy today because there’s guys like Hendy [Iain Henderson] there, a great leader. Ross is a really steady presence at outhalf. Guys like Pete [O’Mahony] coming off the bench. It made my life a bit easier.”
