Gerry Thornley: Five things we learned from Ireland’s win over Italy

Caelan Doris is ridiculous

When it was revealed that Ireland’s 42-man World Cup squad didn’t feature Nick Timoney or John Hodnett, one apparent void appeared to be any obvious alternative to Josh van der Flier at open side, albeit Peter O’Mahony has sometimes filled that role. Well, now we know there was no void at all.

There have been misgivings about Doris shifting to six, but wearing seven for the first time in a Test didn’t diminish his influence one iota. As well as his high tackle and carry counts, there was his deft passing skills, strength over the ball and a brace of tries, and he also had a big hand in two others. A ridiculous performance.

Joe McCarthy passes his audition

The 22-year-old is a rare beast, and here finally was irrefutable evidence of why Andy Farrell and Paul O’Connell have been sweet on McCarthy for some time. Injuries delayed this belated first Test start but his performance carried a real wow factor.

McCarthy’s sheer power and timing into the ball helped him carry hard over the gain line with most of his 11 carries, and he also made eight tackles (and missed none). One of the three Irish forwards to go the full 80, he was still going strong at the finish, notably with that muscular rip off an Italian lineout in the build-up to Cian Healy’s try.

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Jack Crowley looks the part

There’s something about Crowley – call it presence or composure – but he just looks the part. Ideally, Farrell and co probably would have wanted one of their outhalves to have more Test exposure under his belt. But in just his second start for Ireland, his inexperience never showed. Without overplaying his hand, he mixed up his passing – witness a sumptuous skip pass to Jimmy O’Brien on the wing – ran well and struck the ball sweetly. Even playing the second period at fullback served to underline his value and versatility. He puts himself about too.

The ‘backup’ frontrow came to the fore

It evidently disappointed Farrell that Ireland started the second-half poorly, and in response to the try by Lorenzo Pani, he introduced the trio of frontrow replacements, Cian Healy, Tom Stewart and Tadhg Furlong. They immediately upped Ireland’s energy levels and physicality in defence, and also turned the screw with Ireland’s most powerful scrum of the match, dominating thereafter. Stewart may not edge out Rob Herring, his experienced fellow Ballynahinch and Ulster hooker, but is one for the future. Healy is remarkable and having Furlong back to his best would be a boon.

Winners and losers are not entirely based on results.

Italy head coach Kieran Crowley will wait anxiously on news of the injuries to Marco Riccioni and Tommaso Menoncello – both key cogs for the Azzurri. Gregor Townsend faces similar anxiety, despite Scotland’s 14-man comeback win over France, given Ben White’s injury and Zander Fagerson’s red card. Despite losing from 21-3 up, Fabien Galthié will have learned plenty from his second-string team, not least the manner in which his 20-year-old debutants Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Emilien Gailleton took to Test rugby. The feeling that Warren Gatland hadn’t lost his knack for quickly assembling teams whereas England are still looking for an identity was re-enforced by Saturday’s events in Cardiff.