ANDY FARRELL SAID there was no major concerns around Jack Conan, Craig Casey and Jimmy O’Brien after the three players were all forced off in Ireland’s 33-17 defeat of Italy at Aviva Stadium.
Conan departed shortly before half time and was later seen wearing a moon boot on the sideline, while O’Brien was replaced at half time and Casey was substituted following a knock early in the second half.
“They seem not too bad, Jimmy’s shoulder has shut down a little bit,” Farrell said.
“Jack has lost power in his foot, Craig had a tight back which led to tightness in his hamstring.”
Overall the Ireland head coach was largely pleased with many of the individual displays but admitted to being frustrated with some aspects of his team’s performance.
After building up a 21-3 lead by half-time, Ireland struggled for cohesion in the second half and were guilty of some sloppy play which allowed Italy creep back into the contest.
We all know really that it was a bit clunky to say the least at times; some really good stuff in terms of possession and attacking in spades and we weren’t able to convert that. That’s the story.
“Some of the individual performances were great, to see where people were at, but having the possession we had in the first-half and with the pressure we put on, Italy couldn’t get out of their own half so we were doing something right. Converting that was key.
“Italy were strong defensively, as far as the breakdown was concerned they pressured us. Set-piece, we got into good positions and can look back on that and convert a bit better.”
On a night where Farrell tested a number of different combinations, Jack Crowley delivered another assured display in just his second Test start at out-half – moving to fullback when Ciarán Frawley was introduced at half time.
“Jack did well, first-half he controlled the game very well,” Farrell added.
He didn’t overplay too much, there’s a few things we’ll chat about but it’s another experience where he started at 10 and he ran the week. He’ll get massive confidence from that.
“Ciarán, we’ll have a look at the performance of the two of them playing together. We tried to get the two of them playing, not sure that came to fruition. We started the second-half poorly, so we’ll have to look at that as well.”
Caelan Doris was also outstanding in the less familiar surroundings of openside, capping a dominant outing with two tries.
“I’m sick of him getting man of the match! He just keeps getting better and better; we know he’s good at jackalling but he took that through the roof with No 7.
“It doesn’t matter if he makes a mistake or two, he gets on with the job. He’s growing all the time, not just in the way he plays.”
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