Italy coach backs Ireland to take title

Italy coach Jacques Brunel said that he thought Ireland could win the championship based on their ability to sustain pressure for an entire 80 minutes.

“Yes I think Ireland can win the tournament because they have great continuity and they have shown they can sustain that over the whole 80 minutes and showed it also against the All Blacks last year,” said Brunel.

The coach added that Ireland’s ability to hold the ball and force Italy into constant tackling took a heavy toll on his side.

“The first half with little possession we showed good defence. In second half the possession didn’t change but our defence wasn’t so competitive as it was in the first half,” he added. “The major weakness was the team’s possession. Even against France we were in the game.”

Captain Marco Bortolami felt his team fell down on the accuracy of their play and coughed possession back to Ireland whenever they managed to get their hands on the ball. He also conceded that Italy tired in the second half.

“It was frustrating because we played a poor 80 minutes today. We knew the referee would be strict at the breakdown. Another frustrating point was we stole many balls but then lost it again. We struggled around the scrum and lineout to get possession,” said the veteran lock.

“Yesterday I said details are crucial. We lost the first scrum and the second. They were exploiting space throughout the phases and eventually it was too much and we ran out of energy in the second half. That’s when Ireland started to find space out wide because our defence was tired.”