Ragged Ireland knocked out of their stride in Rome

Ireland came, saw and while they didn't quite conquer the Italians, they registered a bonus point 26-16 win after trailing at half-time to keep their interest in the Six Nations alive. Ultimately though, they didn't find the momentum and cohesion they were looking for.

Accordingly, although he was speaking specifically about a couple of try-scoring chances that went a-begging, Joe Schmidt could assuredly have been talking about the overall performance when freely admitting "we've got to be better than that".

“There’s a sense of relief because we didn’t play as well as we would have liked,” conceded Schmidt, “because we were down 16-12 at half-time and we were up against an Italian side who have proven in this competition that they are tough to beat.

"There's a sense of relief because while we did create opportunities, I don't think we made the most of them and when we were building some positive attack we made errors," said the Irish coach, citing Tito Tebaldi dispossessing Conor Murray at the base of an attacking ruck in the build-up to Italy's second try by Luca Morisi.

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"The last phase of the game sums up the performance to a degree, where Jacob Stockdale does an incredible job from the in-goal out to the halfway, one man to beat and the pass doesn't go to hand and we knock it on and we're left scrambling around on the ground trying to grab the ball."

Although the five point haul put them to within three points of Wales and one of England, with games at home to France and away to Wales remaining, Schmidt also conceded: “We’re still obviously on the back foot. England have got 10 points. They didn’t get a bonus point yesterday which opens the door a little bit for us and obviously Wales are in the strongest position now. They’ve won three out of three, they’ve won away in France so they’ve only got the game away to Scotland now to play away from home and then us back in Cardiff.

“That’s going to be a huge match for us. We’ve got to make sure that over the next two weeks we keep building. There’ll be a few guys coming in and out in the build-up to the France game and then we’ve got to put a better performance together because France look like they’d built a bit yesterday and that’s going to be tough for us,” he said in reference to their bonus point win over Scotland on Saturday.

Schmidt confirmed that Bundee Aki did not return after departing for a head injury assessment in the 12th minute when the Irish medics decided he was not in a suitable condition to rejoin the match, but that the player had already expressed a desire to play for Connacht next weekend.

Johnny Sexton passed on the kicking duties to Conor Murray after feeling “a bit sore” from some late hits, and the errors which afflicted both of Ireland’s world-class players typified the collective performance.

Real danger

It's still worth noting that Murray's influence grew and in addition to his try and two conversions he had two try-scoring assists, taking his tally in the Six Nations to a record 18, overtaking Jonny Wilkinson and Ronan O'Gara by one, as well as Brian O'Driscoll on 16 and Peter Stringer on 15.

Schmidt admitted his two main men weren’t quite at their best.

“I think Johnny was a bit angry when he came off because he’d just been hit three times off the ball. I’m not saying any of it was illegal. I think they’re well timed challenges, some of them, and he gets that every week. But he felt a degree of frustration about that, and Conor is frustrated.

“He felt there should have been a decision made when the ball gets taken off him and I haven’t looked really at it to know, and then he’s grumpy, and then there’s a real danger you start trying too hard. And when you start trying too hard you tend to create pressure on yourself and then you don’t play well.

"You play best when you're confidence is good, you have a sense of responsibility and then you combine the two to be fluent in what you're delivering," added Schmidt, who noted the "super pass" from Murray which Ultan Dillane dropped, as well as the pass from Sean O'Brien which was too far in front of Murray when he dropped the ball.

“When players don’t get an early touch in the game that’s positive, that accumulates that frustration and unfortunately for us we weren’t cohesive enough right through that first half.

“Even in the second half, we did enough to win and I’m proud of the players, the way they stayed calm enough to make sure that we got the win, we got the five points and that was what we needed out of the game.”

Asked again about Murray’s form in this championship, Schmidt said: “I think Conor is still trying to find his feet. There’s a bit of a risk for Conor that he tries too hard. He’s frustrated that it’s not the smooth running machine that he normally is. He’s obviously frustrated to get pick-pocketed. He felt that the player was offside, but you can feel whatever you like – it is the game and you’ve got to get back into the game and you can’t let somebody have the ball when it’s in your hands.

“So, he’s frustrated about a few things. I thought he kicked some really nice kicks today and on the back of that I’m hoping that he gets his confidence back.

“As I said, there was a really nice pass at one stage straight to the player [Ultan Dillane] that gets knocked on. No doubt that hurts him because he’s feeling that he’s putting it out there, it’s got his zip in it but we didn’t get anything on the back of it other than an opposition scrum.

“I think he’s going to keep building, France will be another opportunity for him all things being equal.”