Ireland… 33
Italy… 17
Challenge matches, Test matches, friendlies, warm ups, whatever you want. Do they carry any value? Observers of a certain vintage would be of the view they’re not worth the grass they get played on.
An easy conclusion to arrive at if using the 1988 case of Meath and Kildare as a reference point. The two teams met at the official opening of the first phase of Summerhill GFC’s clubhouse.
The Lilywhites beat the then defending All Ireland champions by 2-16 to 0-00. But just five months later, two things were proven. One, that Kildare were indeed kings of the challenge match (if little else) and secondly that observers would be daft to over analyse non competitive fare.
So, where does that leave judgement of Saturday evening’s clash between Ireland and Italy at the Aviva Stadium? Somewhere along the fine line between opportunity and risk.
Opportunity for those perhaps on the ‘Possibles’ list for the forthcoming World Cup squad to put in for a transfer to the ‘probable’ camp. As for the risks, well it wouldn’t take scientific education to figure those out!
In the credit column, the headlines have to be the return of Jacob Stockdale after more than two years out of the picture and the occasion of Keith Earls winning his 99th cap. Surely the great Garryowen man will now reach the century of appearances he so richly deserves.
Talking of big numbers of outings, whatever diet Cian Healy is on, I want it. The remarkable Leinster man clocked up 124th wearing of the green against the Italians. And as he so often does, burrowed his way over for five points to mark the occasion.
Though it was another member of the front row union, Dave Kilcoyne, who generated the first headline when marking his own return from a lay off with a fine try.
When the outstanding Caelen Dorris then touched down for the first of a brace for the big Mayo man, and Stuart McCloskey also put himself in the shop window, it meant the locals took a 21-3 cushion into the turnaround.
Aside from the scoring, what is also liable to have pleased the Irish setup most will have been the performances of Ian Henderson, Joe McCarthy and Ryan Baird in the pack, the half back combination between Craig Casey and Jack Crowley and the inventiveness of Jimmy O’Brien from full back.
That said, any backroom team in which Paul O’Connell is involved will require manic aggression in attention to detail. Thus, infringements early on at both the scrum and lineout and the ease with which the Italians went over for their tries is not likely to have sat well.
However, of greater immediate concern are bound to be knocks picked up by O’Brien, Jack Conan, Jack Crowley and Craig Casey. Mind you, those will have been at least somewhat offset by the contributions of Tom Stewart, Tadhg Beirne, Cian Prendergast, Calvin Nash and Ciaran Frawley off the bench.
Risk and reward.