Whereas Irish rugby is reeling from one of its most deflating weeks in many a year, the Italian rugby squad travel to Dublin with increased belief that they can claim a first Six Nations away win over Ireland in the Aviva Stadium next Saturday (kick-off 2.10pm).
This follows their gritty and deserved 18-15 win over Scotland in a rain-sodden Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, which was the first time the Azzurri have recorded successive home wins over the same opponents in their 27 years in the Six Nations.
“It makes you feel very confident in what you can do,” captain Michele Lamaro said in his post-match interview. “So now we’ve got a dream in our head. We keep going on.” When pressed on what that dream entails, Lamara smiled and said: “It’s going to stay in my head.”
Are wounded Ireland vulnerable to an Italian job?
No doubt that includes a first win in Ireland since their victory at the old Lansdowne Road in 1997. They’ve lost on their last 18 treks here, including all 13 visits to the Aviva Stadium in the Six Nations. To add to their dreams, none of Saturday’s matchday 23 in Rome were involved when Italy last beat Ireland in the last round of the 2013 Six Nations by 22-15 at the Stadio Olimpico.
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“When you win, you can never get too carried away,” Lamaro did caution after their victory over Scotland. “It’s often easy to play a very intense first match, but then you have to confirm your form the following week. And seeing how Ireland approached the match against France, we know they’re preparing for a very tough match against us, and if we’re not prepared, the game in Dublin could be a very long afternoon.
“This performance should make us understand that when we use the weapons we have, we can hurt a lot of teams. Scotland came here with a great team, and we managed to beat them in a storm that they’re certainly more accustomed to, and that’s a source of pride.”
Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada is hoping to profit from the boost to his team’s confidence.
“It’s nice to raise expectations, to make calculations, to think about future results. This happens when you sense that great results are possible, but we know where we still need to improve and we must keep our feet on the ground.”
Ireland were hard-pressed to beat Italy by 22-17 in Rome in the final round of last season’s championship when indebted to Joe McCarthy’s covering tackle which prevented Leonardo Marin from scoring and thus setting up a conversion to win the match for Paolo Garbisi.
The Irish team had travelled to Rome scarred by the previous week’s loss to France at home, and once again they have been bruised by another emphatic defeat when losing 36-14 in Paris last Thursday.
Cian Prendergast echoed Andy Farrell’s sentiments that the players would be honest with each other when the squad assembled on Sunday night as a means of triggering a positive response against Italy.
“As long as I’ve been watching there has never been any doubt about the character of an Irish team. So, I guarantee you we’ll show up now on Sunday to camp, we’ll review the game, we’ll be honest with each other and we’ll go to work and get ready to put on a performance next Saturday.”
Gone are the days when Italy were the whipping boys of the Six Nations, as when suffering whitewashes for six consecutive championships from 2016 to 2021. They’ve only lost four of their last nine games in the Six Nations.
“I’ve played Italy before, they’ve got brilliant players playing in the Top 14 and in the URC,” said Prendergast. “They are physical, so it’s another challenge and we will just have to get ready for that.”
A quartet of Irish players made their Six Nations debuts last Thursday, and on a landmark night for them, it was also the first time Prendergast started alongside his younger brother Sam in any game of rugby, having previously done so as a replacement.
“It’s always special when we get to play together. We had family here at the game but ultimately we don’t really like making it about ourselves during the week. We’re just focused on putting on a performance for Ireland and we’re just disappointed we didn’t get to do it today.”
The elder brother confirmed it was their “first start in any kind of game together”.
“Maybe some underage Gaelic football, but I don’t even think we’ve started together in those games. It was cool and something we’ll definitely look back on in a few years, but it’s just disappointing we didn’t get the result.”
