“Come on, play. PLAY!”
That was Rob Kearney’s rallying call to his Irish teammates moments before the Television Match Official ruled out a potential try for Keith Earls. The fullback had been dragged out of touch after leaving Stuart Hogg in his wake and had almost got his pass away to Earls in time.
Almost was not good enough then and it was not enough for Ireland as they lost their opener 27-22.
Like most of the Irish team, Kearney recovered from a shaky start and grew into the game as it progressed. He was Ireland’s most effective attacker, gaining 105 metres off 15 carries that included two line breaks and seven defenders beaten.
On the downside, he was guilty of three turnovers. Following Ireland’s team announcement for the Italy game, Joe Schmidt highlighted the biggest crimes his team were guilty of and it was not the start that left them 21-5 behind after 30 minutes. He said:
“To come from 21-5 [behind] early in the game to lead 22-21, the biggest disappointment for me personally was not the start. It was the finish and it was the finishing. I think we had nine line breaks. I know that we scored our tries mostly on penalty advantages because it was very hard to get a line break and to keep playing off it, because they made it very difficult.”
“There were definite opportunities from set-pieces, close to the line, and from overlaps we created and balls went out on the full. That, for us, is the unforgivable stuff that we know we’ve got to be better at.”
Two of the clearest scoring opportunities involved Kearney, Ultan Dillane and CJ Stander. The Connacht lock and Munster back-row fumbled a lineout maul with the Scottish tryline only yards away.
The other arrived on 68 minutes. Paddy Jackson was twice involved in a sweeping, right-to-left attack that would have put Simon Zebo one-on-one with Scotland outhalf Finn Russell
Unfortunately for Ireland, Kearney’s pass to Zebo was not only forward but went straight out of play. The Scots got a lineout from it and did not give Ireland the ball back until the 73rd minute, by which stage they were 24-22 ahead.
With only Iain Henderson and Tommy Bowe missing from the match-day 23 that lost in Edinburgh, most of the players have the opportunity to show Schmidt and the Irish coaching staff that their Six Nations opener was a blip.
