IRELAND COACH DECLAN Kidney says the focus in the Ireland dressing room, following their win over Italy, almost immediately switched to the France match next week.
“In the second half we did the simple things well and we would be delighted about that,” he said. “A bit of wearing down had to be done after the break and it eventually paid off.”
“The lads are so professional that they were already talking about the next match in the dressing room after the match,” Kidney added.
He expressed a satisfaction with the gradual introduction of new players to the talent pool and tipped flanker Peter O’Mahony to make a further impact in this year’s Six Nations.
Kidney commented, “Things will always be cyclical if you want to plan for the future. Peter made the big step today and Conor (Murray) came through last August. Donncha Ryan is getting the experience and Sean Cronin too. You need that mix of experience and youth.
“Peter has had the benefit of being in camp for five weeks and he is settling in and improving all the time. There will be more (caps) to come.
Irish captain Paul O’Connell noted that the pack is in good shape ahead of the match-up with Thierry Dusatoir and his French teammates next Sunday.
He said, “There is a feeling of frustration about the second-half performance. We didn’t execute a few simple things and didn’t get out of our half as we would’ve liked it.” O’Connell mentioned lost line-outs, squandered possession out wide and a penalty conceded as a box-kick was being set up.
Classy
“When we did get out of our half we were good. We have a lot of classy, excellent players in the team and we showed that in the second half.
“We played for 80 minutes and we haven’t always done that. We kept coming and coming and eventually broke them, which was satisfying.”
Italian coach Jacques Brunel lamented the Jekyll and Hyde nature of his team’s performance. “There were two different (Italy) teams on the field,” he said, “We started the match well but suffered from Ireland pressure and made some frustrating mistakes.
Sergio Parisse said Ireland won the encounter thanks to an impressive second-half performance. The Italy captain added, “The final score is disappointing and does not reflect the real gap between the two teams.”
Kidney ended the press conference by paying tribute to Ronan O’Gara after the out-half won his record-breaking 118thcap for Ireland. “It is a fantastic achievement and he deserves it,” said Kidney, “and I’m sure there’s a few more there for him too.”
The coach added that Rob Kearney is the biggest injury concern with a slight groin strain, while Gordon D’Arcy and Cian Healy should be fine after incurring knocks.
Well-done boys. Sweet victory.
I thought murray was poor today and far to slow at ruck time, eoin reddans impact was huge and a main reason for the last few tries
Hmm. Where to begin?
Conor Murray’s pathetic squandering of possession, slow distribution. Here’s a tip Connor, the box kick should have some element of surprise and be positioned such that your own team have some chance of retrieving the ball. Faster ball from ruck = better ball.
Jamie Heaslip, just stop eating the food you’re so fond of tweeting about. You look bottom heavy and lethargic for a world class player. You’re too big.
Donncha O’C. Just drop him. He’s playing Lazy Runner role perfectly but that’s about it.
Cian stop trying to be a feckin back and play prop.
Sean O’Brien, we’re expecting more from the world class player you undoubtedly are.
Ferris. Ledge bag.
Johnny Sexton, you look flat footed and have the gait of a hyena.
Gordon, retirement beckons.
Earls. Class act but possibl out of position
Wingers, great!
Rob k great.
Hit the nail on the head! I’d love to see Trimble a lot more
Is Sexton instructed to kick possession away?? If he keeps failing to find touch against the French, they’ll run the ball back at us and tear us apart. Bring back ROG for that game.
Funny you say that about darcy because he had a serious game today!
De – would agree with you on a couple of points… Conor Murray is a class act but had a very poor match – service was waaaaayyy too slow and the pace created by the introduction of Reddan lifted the whole team. This is the very reason why I also think Stringer was consistently underestimated as a scrum half – whilst not doing anything spectacular, the speed if his delivery lifted the intensity of the whole team in a way that other scrum halves just couldn’t do…
Whilst Sextons goal kicking was excellent his kicking from the hand was brutal – I can’t remember a single good kick – possession is everything in the modern gave and consistently kicking it away with no tactical (and limited territorial) advantage is just madness. We will be crucified by the French if we kick like this…
Sexton was also completely anonymous on the ball – I really can’t understand how he got motm…
I actually think Sexton can be a class act too, but if we weren’t building for the future it would still be O’Gara all the way for me – the young pup hasn’t deposed the old dog yet….
@John. Can you recall O’Gara’s first contribution to the game when he came on? Let me tell you. Penalty kick from hand that failed to make touch…. Guess what? The god that is ROG can make mistakes too!
Sexton yesterday nailed every penalty and conversion apart from the one at the end that didn’t really matter anyway. He moved the back line as best he could with the slow ball from Murray. Reddan comes on and you could see Sexton’s game and back line plays clicking into place straight away… He has a good game and Munster fans still give him unwarranted abuse? Get behind the team for god sake! He’s an Irish man!
Keith Earls was very solid today as was D’Arcy,someone i was very critical of…Horgan hit the nail on the head today talking about Murray,he is capable of passing the ball of the ruck,but his first instinct is pick and go,just a bit of inexperience…And am i the only person who thinks Bowe is under performing a bit,yes he scored a try and thats a wingers bread and butter to be at the right place at the right time,but he does not seem to be breaking much tackles these days,with the likes of Zebo who always look threatening more pressure has to be put on him..Kearney is having a cracker of a championship…The Aviva has no atmosphere at all,it has nothing a Croke Park,its a sad state of affairs when someone trys to get to get The Feilds of Athenry going and no one joins them
Personally I’d be delighted if everyone stopped singing the Fields of Athenry – after all what the feck does a 1970′s song about the famine have to do with sport??
Before you all leap for the thumbs down button, ask yourself what you think about the English singing Swing Low…
Early kick offs generally suffer in terms of atmosphere…
De grow up and cop on to yourself
Tenner bets all commenters on this story live in South County Dublin
Cavan, dickhead!
Limerick………….
Why are people replying to a contributor called “you reacted ha ha”? Troll-tastic!
@ Sean Martin
Lucky you put a comma in your comment Sean!
Cop on lads…. A Win is Win, and of our better ones at that ! An 80 minute + performance for a change. The French will be a tougher force; we live in hope. Remember Declan Kidney in Mar 2009 after we won the Grand Slam…. ” Honesty and Hard Work = Success”.