In Ireland's sole defeat by Italy back in 2013 in Rome, a rash of injuries and yellow cards left Ireland down to 13 men at one point and Peter O'Mahony playing on the left wing in the second half. The shoe was on the other foot at the Aviva on Sunday when O'Mahony led Ireland to a facile and somewhat futile 57-6 win over an Italian side reduced to 13 men for the final hour.
Afterwards, the Irish captain could scarcely conceal his frustration.
“We want to be ruthless but we weren’t, certainly, in the last 20 minutes of the first half and parts of the second half. We weren’t accurate and we should have made life more difficult for a team that were down to 13 and 12 players at one stage. So you want to be ruthless but at times our inaccuracy let us down.”
World Rugby’s Law 3, 13-20, is designed to prevent teams seeking an advantage by going to uncontested scrums, and so decrees that if a team loses two hookers, one through injury and another through a red card, they must be reduced to 13 men.
Hence, when Epalahame Faiva was sent off for a high shot on Dan Sheehan in the 19th minute, they not only had to bring a third prop into the frontrow and replace one player (winger Pierre Bruno), they also had to remove another player, number 8 Toa Halafihi, from the match.
Even so, while admitting Ireland were "inconsistent" and "sloppy" at times, Andy Farrell sought to look on the brighter side.
“There’s not many times we’ve played a Test match against 12 players, so there’s plenty we can take away from it. Going seven points up was a nice enough start, and then I thought we started to overplay it a little bit.
“I thought Italy defended really well and they were aggressive in defence, even before they went down to 13 men, and aggressive at the breakdown. I thought because of our lack of accuracy and obviously the tenaciousness in defence there were a few errors that we tidied up before the 13-man situation happened.
“It’s just weird [the law]. We understand why the rule was brought in but at the same time I suppose, in situations like that, occasions like that, it’ll bring the rule back to everyone’s attention and they’ll look at it.
“Rightly, Italy were trying to slow the game down. It’s what everyone would have done. When you’ve got uncontested scrums for so long in the game, everyone’s legs are nice and fresh and it’s the reason Italy were tenacious in defence, even when they went to 12 men.
‘Kamikaze-style’
“The space that you think is there, they’re going to throw caution to the wind and kamikaze-style defence at times, flying off the line and hitting us man-and-ball, putting our skills under pressure, and we needed to be calm and accurate.
“In the second half we got a few more front doors, rather than throwing it out the back, and got some quick ball ourselves and managed to get some much-needed points in the end.”
Farrell hailed Michael Lowry’s two-try debut.
“He was great, he was lively and he was as brave, as we knew he was going to be. Everybody involved in the squad, the management and the players, are absolutely made up for Mikey and his mum and his sister and his girlfriend. It was a big day for them.”
While Ireland will reflect ruefully on not further capitalising upon their two-man advantage for an hour, nonetheless, a sixth bonus-point win in succession over the Azzurri did elevate Ireland to second place in the Championship table.
In comfortably exceeding the 27- and 33-point winning margins achieved by France and England against Italy, Ireland also ensured they have the best points differential, something which could be significant in the increasingly unlikely event of France slipping up away to Wales or against England in Paris on the final night, when it seems likely les rosbifs will be served up for the Grand Chelem.
Still, Ireland can take their pursuit of the title and the Triple Crown until the final night by winning in Twickenham next Saturday week. As well as restoring Johnny Sexton as the starting outhalf, they will most likely have James Ryan, Iain Henderson, Bundee Aki, Andrew Conway and Hugo Keenan back in the mix.
Disconcerting
Another more disconcerting aspect were the number of HIAs, one of which forced off Robbie Henshaw, while Andrew Porter sustained an ankle strain.
“Robbie Henshaw is going through the protocols but he looks fine in the dressing room and we expect that to take its course,” said Farrell. “Andrew Porter is nursing a bit of an ankle strain. He went over on his ankle slightly. He was running it off and he would have been able to carry on but we thought we’d get him off at that stage.”
The round four game in Twickenham has, as Farrell admitted, effectively become a title eliminator after England’s 23-19 win over Wales on Saturday.
“We know that they’re going to come hard at us, and Italy came hard off the line at times today and we weren’t composed enough, so we need to be a little bit more accurate there. We know that they like to kick the ball for territory a lot, the same as what they’ve done for the last couple of seasons.
“I thought they were good. I thought in the first half they were very dominant as far as territory is concerned and they kept the scoreboard ticking over. They thoroughly deserved their half-time lead and I suppose like us there will be plenty for them to ponder on in the next couple of weeks, the same as ourselves.”
