Free-scoring fullbacks
The recent Six Nations Championship matches have provided to be a lucrative source of tries for Irish fullbacks on debut starting with Hugo Keenan’s brace at the Aviva Stadium in 2020. Keenan was one of four Irish players to win a first cap in a Six Nations game postponed until October due to Covid-19 alongside Jamison Gibson-Park, Will Connors, a try scorer that day too, and Ed Byrne.
The following year in another Six Nations game between the countries played behind closed doors, Keenan and Connors reversed the try-scoring trend from the previous game with the flanker bagging a brace and Keenan grabbing one, bringing their respective tallies to three apiece in two matches against the Italians.
In last season’s tournament, Ulster’s Michael Lowry made his debut at fullback in the Italian match and crossed for two tries, giving him a 200 per cent strike rate in try-scoring terms. Kieran Treadwell also chipped in with his only try to date for the national side.
Meanwhile, in Andy Farrell’s matchday 23 at the Stadio Olimpico, it’s a four-way tie in terms of players who have scored the most tries against Italy. Keenan, Garry Ringrose, Conor Murray and Jonathan Sexton have each managed three.
Price of defeat to Italy
For two former Ireland head coaches a defeat to Italy marked the end of their respective tenures. The first to suffer those consequences was New Zealander Murray Kidd, the first non-Irish coach of the national team, whose nine-match rein (1995-1997) came to an end after a 37-29 defeat at Lansdowne Road.
Kidd, a three-time All Black trialist and who played representative rugby in New Zealand, came to Ireland in 1990 and twice guided Garryowen to an All-Ireland League Division One title. He was in charge for nine matches winning three.
Grand Slam-winning coach Declan Kidney’s last game in charge coincided with Italy’s first clash with Ireland in today’s venue, Stadio Olimpico (2013), having previously played their home games in the beautiful Stadio Flaminio.
Ireland began that Six Nations with an impressive away win to the eventual champions Wales, but despite a draw with France, defeats to England, Scotland and a first against Italy in the Six Nations sealed his fate. Les Kiss was asked to take charge temporarily, the two are doing a superb job at London Irish before Joe Schmidt took over on a permanent basis later that year.
Italian success
Ireland’s first defeat to Italy came in the second match between the countries on May 6th, 1995, a warm-up match ahead of the World Cup in South Africa later that month. The bus to take the Ireland team to the Stadio Comunale di Monigo in Treviso for the match never arrived. Professionalism was around the corner, but transport was not.
Players were shuttled to the stadium in taxis while others literally thumbed a lift, most arriving about a quarter of an hour before kick-off which the Italians refused to put back. The home side won 22-12 and started a run of three consecutive victories against Ireland, following up with a 37-27 win at Lansdowne Road (1997) and in December that year triumphed again this time in Bologna (37-22).
Manchester-born Dylan O’Grady won his only cap that day in Bologna, fellow Exiles flanker David Erskine the last of three and so too Kevin Nowlan, who like Erskine had played against New Zealand and Canada, a match in which the St Mary’s College fullback scored two tries, over the previous fortnight.
Spare a thought for one of Irish rugby’s great captains and servants, Paddy Johns, who played in all three of those Italian defeats, in 1995 and the two in 1997. He did though record a victory over Italy, scoring one of his four international tries and captaining the national side to victory against Italy in 1999.
Memorable try
It’s not quite the same vintage as the Gareth Edwards try for the Barbarians in their victory over New Zealand in 1973 but Jamie Heaslip’s try for Ireland against Italy at the Aviva Stadium in their 2016 Six Nations clash won World Try of the Year.
Johnny Sexton’s dropout was won by Devin Toner, Jack McGrath set up a ruck, and from there Conor Murray, Sexton, Fergus McFadden, Sexton, Simon Zebo, Jacob Stockdale, Andrew Trimble and McFadden linked the move with the latter giving Heaslip the scoring pass.
By the numbers
Twenty-five: Italy hold the unwanted record of 17 Wooden Spoons since the Five Nations Championship became Six in 2000. But if you go back to the first iteration of the tournament it is Ireland that has the most with 25.
Enough said
“Precisely because they [Ireland] play so many phases, it becomes easier to make mistakes and give away penalties which would then allow them to always have the ball in even more dangerous areas of the pitch, with a higher chance of scoring points. We have to be consistent in defence and be able to recover the ball, when possible, in order to be able to play our game.” — Italy centre Tommaso Menoncello.
