Another Ireland victory and another Josh van der Flier man of the match gong. The ever-improving openside is building up quite the collection and as he kept on making his big carries, nine in total, and his tackles, his dozen led the way for Ireland again, it was clear that another one was coming his way long before the end.
As Andy Farrell put it: "Josh rolls on, doesn't he?"
That said, there was an argument for giving it to van der Flier’s opposite number, the unyielding 23-year-old captain Michele Lamaro. One wondered if he could possibly maintain the intensity he demonstrated during “Il Canto degli Italiani”, the song of the Italians. But he did, and how, the injustice of being reduced to 13 men seemed to only inflate his desire as he made eight carries, won two turnovers and led the tackle count with a whopping 19.
“Michele is an exceptional player, he epitomised their effort and he worked incredible hard,” admitted van der Flier. “I’ve been in that situation before, you just have to work that bit harder, the opposition have more space, their energy goes up a bit. You have to work hard. Full credit to him, he’s a great player and leads by example. They all worked hard, it’s very tough on them with the numbers down, you’re always up against it and credit to them.
“It was a funny game once they went to 13, a very different game. They did well, they made it quite difficult for us. We needed to be a lot more clinical. The result is good but we can definitely be better. Full credit to Italy.”
Van der Flier was understandably reluctant to discuss the delicacies of World Rugby’s Law 3, 3-10, but admitted: “I suppose for the supporters you want 15 but I understand in certain situations you have to give reds and yellows and that kind of thing. I didn’t get to see it, we were in a huddle planning what to do next. The supporters want to see 15 v 15 but I suppose there needs to be discipline in the game.”
Cruel
Whatever remote chance Italy had of ending their 34 game losing run in the Six Nations and their 100th overall assuredly ended when reduced to 13 men by the end of the first quarter.
It seemed particularly cruel on the Azzurri given Gianmarco Lucchesi suffered a dislocated elbow in the ninth minute. Had the Italians named replacement prop Ivan Nemer as a hooker as well (and there was nothing wrong with his darts) then they would have avoided uncontested scrums and not been reduced to 13 men when his replacement Epalahame Faiva was sent off.
But their head coach Kieran Crowley explained: “On the team sheet, you must name two hookers, two loosehead props and two tighthead props. When you then lose two hookers, I was not prepared to go with props that have never hooked before into that position.
“There were two identified on the team sheet and, unfortunately, (Gianmarco) Lucchesi dislocated his elbow and then the red card occurs.
We had to go down to 13; it’s something that we have no control over on the rules - they (World Rugby) have to look at that”.
