IRELAND duly accumulated an impressive total against Italy which helped boost their points difference immeasurably – but it came at the cost of two big injuries that could play a big role later in this tournament.
Tadhg Furlong departed very early with a painful looking hamstring strain and Robbie Henshaw appeared to badly injure his shoulder in scoring his second try.
The injuries slightly took the gloss off victory and at the debrief Joe Schmidt might have a few issues with Ireland’s defence which leaked three second half tries although the Italians showed considerable flair at times behind the scrum.
If only their forwards were the power of old but there is no question that in Matteo Minozzi they have unearthed an exciting player of rare talent.
Although happy with the win in Paris last week, Ireland were not happy with their inability to record a single line-break in 80 minutes. Against the Italians and in much better conditions than anticipated they rectified that in style and had their try-bonus logged after 34 minutes.
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