Talking points from Ireland v Italy in the 2018 Six Nations Ireland relied on a miracle moment against France to win in Round One of this year’s Six Nations, but they needed no such bail-out in their first home game of the tournament. They blew Italy away in the first half and although they eased off in the second, the 56-19 triumph was never in doubt. Irish tries rained down like confetti, with eight in total. Robbie Henshaw and Jacob Stockdale both got two scores and Conor Murray, Bundee Aki, Keith Earls, and Rory Best all crossed the line. It was 28-0 at half-time, but Italy got three scores to their name after the break, with Tommaso Allan, Edoardo Gori and Matteo Minozzi dotting down. There will be some concerns behind closed doors with Tadhg Furlong and Robbie Henshaw going off with injuries. The tighthead prop hobbled towards the changing rooms after just three minutes and Henshaw went off with his arm in a sling. After the match, Joe Schmidt confirmed that Henshaw will get a scan on Sunday. And despite Henshaw looking in severe discomfort, Schmidt refused to rule him out of the remainder of the Six Nations.  There is some optimism on Furlong, who had a tight hamstring, with Schmidt suggesting that wait-and-see is the plan for next week. Jack Conan was also replaced at half-time, due to a knock, but he is expected to make a swift recovery. There will be more to come on this. Here is what you should be talking about after this match… Ireland’s  ruthless attack Ireland had wrapped up the try bonus by the 35th minute. At times in the first half it was brutal to watch, though they were much looser in the second. Last week, Ireland made zero line-breaks against France. Some would argue that even accidentally almost any team can muster one – we’ve all seen a front five forward trundling into no-man’s land, startled and wondering how they got there. It was totally different today. A minute in to this one, Ireland’s passing was crisper than the week before, the dummy lines more likely to tie up defenders and the Irish back-row manufactured holes. And here’s the line-break that matters – Henshaw crossed the try-line on the ten-minute mark, something Ireland could not do the week before. He nudged the floodgates open and the tries flowed freely for the rest of the game. Where is Italy’s canine instinct? No wolf, no fox, no dog in defence for the Italians. They could not bare their defensive teeth at any point in this run-out. They conceded seven tries at home last week and here they let in eight. They have leaked 15 tries so far this year. It would be unfair to miss out the fact that they have scored six tries over the two outings and they very nearly scored a length-of-the-field intercept at the death for a fourth here. There are signs of a markedly increased fluency to … Continue reading Talking points from Ireland v Italy in the 2018 Six Nations