Gerry Thornley: Ireland turn attention to pivotal Italian job

Ireland still seem to be skirting around the edges of this World Cup, and after the full-on warzone of Saturday's epic at Twickenham, Sunday's rugby version of St Patrick's Day at Wembley only added to that feeling.

But now, as Joe Schmidt admits, the serious stuff begins and about the only blight on his and Ireland's horizon is that Rob Kearney has joined Rob Henshaw in the casualty ward.

The Irish coach was still hopeful that both would be fit to face the Italians in the Olympic Stadium next Sunday, but this hinged on Kearney’s hip/glute strain being assessed over the next 24 to 48 hours, and the state of Henshaw’s hamstring twinge. Ideally, he’d want them both training on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We’ll observe training on Tuesday and Wednesday, get together on Thursday night, make some decisions, finalise those decisions and train with that team on Friday to give them a bit of rhythm to get them into Sunday’s game.”

Of some consolation is the continuing good form of all the outside backs, with Tommy Bowe and Keith Earls scoring a brace apiece. In the process the latter took his tally to seven tries in seven World Cup games, thereby eclipsing Brian O'Driscoll as Ireland's leading try scorer in World Cups. For his part, Simon Zebo had three assists, one a Quade Cooper-like 25 yard try-scoring pass for Earls's first try, which Schmidt rightly described as "exceptional".

A win for Ireland next Sunday will ensure qualification for the last eight and eliminate the Italians. “For us it starts in earnest now because we know we can qualify if we win next weekend. At the same time Italy know they need to win. So it becomes a little like a last 16 game for us, and then the play-off nature of the World Cup really begins the following week.”

The anticipated return of Sergio Parisse from injury, although he only arrives from Paris on Monday, will galvanise an Azzurri outfit who have been almost going through the motions thus far.

Challenge

“Yeah, I do think he makes a massive difference. I think it’s similar to a couple of players that make a similar difference for us. That will be a definite challenge for us. Effectively, their World Cup is over if they don’t win next weekend, and that was is going to be a real challenge for us particularly because they have some real quality amongst them,” said Schmidt.

“Across the board I think they present on paper and on the pitch a more formidable challenge than we’ve had so far and having worked our way through two reasonably one-sided games, there’s always a risk when the pressure comes on and we maybe haven’t been put in that position.

“I’m sure that’s what Jacques Brunel is going to chat to his players, to put us under that pressure and to see how we respond, whereas we’ve been able to exert the pressure more often than not in the two games we’ve had so far.”

The World Cup record attendance was also eclipsed as 89,267 swelled the tournament’s coffers in what was an astonishing reflection of Irish people’s willingness to support their team abroad as well as, perhaps, the country’s economy and how expatriates embrace any opportunity to celebrate their nationality. In any event, it was quite something to behold.

Another bonus was seeing Cian Healy display all his attributes in a typically, no-holding-back, gung-ho return to the starting team.

“We’re delighted to get Cian out there for 60 minutes and, while he was a little untidy in aspects, he showed real strength in the scrum,” said Schmidt, who also praised Nathan White and Tadhg Furlong. Devin Toner too put his hand up, in every sense, while Paddy Jackson added a touch of class from the bench and Darren Cave had a fine game.

Back three

But it is the composition of the back three which will really exercise the coaches’ minds, with so many in-form contenders following Bowe’s revival.

“We have a few conundrums there across the back line and it has given us a few challenges,” said Schmidt. “It is a luxury at the moment. One of the things that may decide it is who is fit to train on Tuesday because we do feel we getter better momentum into games when we have guys fully available to train for that front half of the week.”

Schmidt is pleased with the points haul to date and how they’ve performed so far, “and who’s over here helping us”.

"Unbelievable support," he said, shaking his head with a genuine look of disbelief. "I've never seen anything like it. We came to Wembley last time, five years ago, with Leinster and the top tier was closed and we felt that it was a great environment."

“With the top stacked with green jerseys as well and just the Fields of Athenry or roar of the crowd certainly does help pick us up. What’s not pleasing is the expectation that we’ve got to go and work our way through the pool. That’s what I guess you sign on for when you’re coaching and that’s what you try and live up to and certainly the players will. They’ve rolled their sleeves up really well so far.”