It’s here! It’s finally here!
As SportsJOE drew back the curtains on this first Saturday of February, we did so with with a bundle of energy, knowing our Six Nations defence is to start this afternoon.
After England’s win in Cardiff last night, Irish fans will know that the March meeting between the pair is a potential title decider, but that will be the last thing on the players’ minds this afternoon, as they bid to open the campaign with a win in Rome.
We have some key changes to the side this afternoon from both our championship success last season, and even from our clean sweep of the Autumn Internationals, so with that in mind, we’ve taken a look at this afternoon’s meeting in Rome, and picked out the three key areas that Ireland must target, in order to open their defence with a win.
Ian Keatley
This was the big call of the week. With Johnny Sexton out injured, it was a straight shoot-out between the Ians for the starting 10 jersey in Rome, and it was Munster’s Keatley who won the battle.
In the past, the kicking tee has been a valued ally to Irish sides against Italy, as they keep the scoreboard ticking over before pulling away late on.
While Keatley’s percentage in the Guinness PRO12 is considerably less than Madigan’s 89% success rate, his recent form with the boot has been much more consistent, and the type of clutch performances he showed late on against both Sale and Clermont this season will be badly needed tomorrow.
He should be keen to take on any early penalties to settle the nerves, and if he makes them it’s sure to provide Ireland with the perfect platform to attack Italy’s questionable defence, with recently capped outhalf Kelly Haimona far from an intimidating prospect.
The centre partnership
The Henshaw-Payne combination didn’t get the consistent run through that Schmidt was hoping for in November, and this afternoon’s game will be our first chance to see the pair having a real go in attack.
The pair started the win against South Africa three months ago, but while they looked solid in defence [after a Jan Serfontein wobble at the start], we didn’t get enough of a chance to see them link up going forward.
Payne’s injury meant that the combination was split up before we had a chance to properly rate it. Today, we should get a much better indication of what to expect from the pair.
They’ll be coming up against Treviso pair Luca Morisi and Michele Campagnaro in Rome today, and they’ll need to be wary of Campagnaro in particular, who caused Wales all sorts of problems in Cardiff 12 months ago.
Much of Ireland’s best play in their hammering of the Italians last year came from hard attacking through the middle, and should Henshaw and Payne play an aggressive game, they could create plenty of space to unleash Tommy Bowe and Simon Zebo out wide.
The bench
If Ireland can keep control of the game for the opening 50 minutes, they can unleash an incredibly powerful cavalry onto the pitch to hammer home a win.
Iain Henderson has been bullying players since his return from injury, and being able to let him loose on the Italians for the final 20-30 minutes is a major boost. Ireland have young, powerful scrummagers in James Cronin and Marty Moore ready to come in, the latter of which had a real physical impact when he featured in this fixture last season.
Madigan will have a point to prove when he enters the game tomorrow, and if Ireland are in control, his natural flair and creativity could expose the Italians badly.
