Ireland Six Nations titles prospects are slim but they still have to put themselves in position
Ireland captain Caelan Doris said Jack Crowley and Sam Prendergast are "both confident lads, both capable of taking a walk-through or having attack points mid-training and they both have a good head on their shoulders". Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Just how harmful to Irish morale was France’s emphatic victory in Dublin seven days ago will be revealed when Simon Easterby’s team return to action at Stadio Olimpico on Saturday afternoon.
The mantra from the camp since that damaging defeat at home to France seven days ago has been about the need for Ireland to produce a performance to be proud of when they close their Guinness Six Nations campaign against Italy in the first of three final-round games which have become a schedulers’ dream come true.
Ireland kick off proceedings at 2:15 Irish time in third place trailing leaders and favourites France by two points and desperately in need of a bonus-point win against the Azzurri to pass on the pressure to those teams above them. The English, in second place thanks to the losing bonus point they snaffled late on against a switched-off Irish side at Aviva Stadium in round one, will travel to Cardiff for their annual collision with old foes Wales in the 4:45pm kick-off. They too need a big win to end Ireland’s title hopes and give the French something to aim for when they close out the day at home to Scotland.
A French victory is far from guaranteed against a Scottish side that won in Paris four years ago but it is expected after their 42-27 demolition of Ireland, a performance as exhilarating for Les Bleus as it was deeply disappointing for Easterby and the interim head coach is demanding a return to the standards that delivered back-to-back titles in the previous two seasons. If there are psychological scars within his squad, he believes they can be harnessed for positive effect in Rome.
“We weren’t good enough in lots of areas last week and I think the squad have a real internal motivation to perform and to play at their best when they play in an Irish jersey,” Easterby said.
“We didn’t match those expectations and the standards that would have been set across a good period of time. We didn’t get to those standards last week. So our challenge and the challenge for the players is to put in their best performance yet. That’s all we’ve talked about.
“It is a different dynamic. We can’t change what went on, on Saturday but we can certainly have an impact on the performance and the right result this weekend. And then who knows? There’s a chance and we just need to make sure we’ve prepared in the right way this week against a really good Italian team.
“It’s an intriguing match-up. We know what we need to do to get the best out of ourselves and we need to make sure we’ve a full focus on that.” Italy may have conceded a total of 120 points over their last two games (73 to France in round three and 47 to England last Sunday) but Easterby warned of their attacking threat.
“They are really dangerous, really tricky. I think their axis of 10-12-13 are really strong and important, especially in attack. (Fly-half Paolo) Garbisi… (full-back) Tommaso Allan, they have that kicking game which can hurt teams.
“But also (Juan Ignacio) Brex and (Tommaso) Menoncello are class players, they’ve got real strong elements to their game and they are involved in the attacking game a lot. They give them a lot of go-forward, so yeah, it’s a really good challenge for us and one that the players are really looking forward to.”
To produce the 80-minute performance supporters have been waiting for throughout this championship after such a disappointing outing last time out will require a significant turnaround in form. Ireland have allowed each one of their opponents in 2025 the luxury of an extended purple patch in games but against France it came back to bite Easterby’s side.
Les Bleus made hay as Ireland lost two players to yellow cards, Joe McCarthy in the first half and Calvin Nash in the second, putting the game beyond their hosts with a blistering third-quarter and beyond that delivered 34 unanswered points.
The reverberations of that performance can be seen in Easterby’s selection to face Italy, with McCarthy replaced by James Ryan in the second row, Jack Conan in at blindside flanker for Peter O’Mahony, whose final actions as an Ireland Test centurion will come from the bench, if required, alongside fellow Test retiree Conor Murray.
The backline is boosted by returns for wings Mack Hansen and James Lowe, and centre Garry Ringrose but the most significant change from last week is a recall at number 10 for Jack Crowley, with Sam Prendergast dropping to the bench after four straight starts at fly-half and three consecutive 80-minute shifts.
It is a vote of confidence in Crowley, underlined by the seal of approval from captain Caelan Doris after Friday’s captain’s run training session at Stadio Olimpico.
“There's quite a bit of an onus on the 10s in our environment in running the attack, liaising with Goodie (attack coach Andrew Goodman). He's done a great job,”
Doris said of Crowley. “Sam's been very good in the first few weeks but Crowler as well, they are both confident lads, both capable of taking a walk-through or having attack points mid-training and they both have a good head on their shoulders. So yeah, he's been good this week.”
That onus on fly-halves cited by Doris now transfers to the pitch with Crowley now challenged to deliver Ireland’s rebound. The Munster 10 has been given the opportunity his supporters have demanded and having proven his individual bouncebackability in various scenarios for province and country before, a strong performance from Crowley can deliver Ireland out of the darkness. It may not bring about any silverware but Ireland will be the better for an improved showing to end the 2025 championship in style and returning to their upward trajectory.
T Allan (Perpignan); A Capuozzo (Toulouse), J I Brex (Benetton) – captain, T Menoncello (Benetton), M Ioane (Lyon); P Garbisi (Toulon), M Page-Relo (Toulon): D Fischetti (Zebre), G Lucchesi (Toulon), S Ferrari (Benetton); D Lamb (Harlequins), F Ruzza (Benetton); S Negri (Benetton), M Zuliani (Benetton), L Cannone (Benetton).
G Nicotera (Stade Francais), M Spagnolo (Benetton), J Zilocchi (Benetton), N Cannone (Benetton), M Lamaro (Benetton), R Vintcent (Exeter Chiefs), S Varney (Vannes), L Marin (Benetton).
H Keenan (Leinster); M Hansen (Connacht), G Ringrose (Leinster), R Henshaw (Leinster), J Lowe (Leinster); J Crowley (Munster), J Gibson-Park (Leinster); A Porter (Leinster), D Sheehan (Leinster), F Bealham (Connacht); J Ryan (Leinster), T Beirne (Munster); J Conan (Leinster), J van der Flier (Leinster), C Doris (Leinster) - captain.
G McCarthy (Leinster), J Boyle (Leinster), T Furlong (Leinster), J McCarthy (Leinster), P O’Mahony (Munster), C Murray (Munster), S Prendergast (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht).
Luke Pearce (England)
