It’s difficult to extract the Conor O’Shea factor and his influence on how Italy meets the Irish challenge in Rome on Saturday. The new Italian coach, like the Irish players themselves, will expect to begin in Stadio Olimpico as they left off in Murrayfield rather than how they started.
O’Shea’s familiarity with the players and culture – very different from when he played fullback for Ireland – will add an alternative narrative to Ireland’s second match of the series.
But Josh van der Flier, who was disappointed to have had to come off the bench against Scotland, after an impressive November as a starting flanker, knows O’Shea as a clever coach with an obvious and particular interest in Ireland.
“He’s going to know all the Irish players as well as anyone and he’s got good experience as a coach,” says van der Flier. “He comes up with some smart plays and he seems to be a really good coach, so it’s going to be exciting to see how well they play under him. It’ll definitely be a challenge.”
It took Wales an hour to break Italy down before pouring in with 30 unanswered second half points for 7-33. That all arrived after Italy took a 7-0 lead after 30 minutes.
“When they (Italy) beat South Africa, they played for the full 80 minutes so I think Wales did well to break them down,” says the Irish flanker. “It was a very physical game and they kept coming at them, coming at them and I think that’s what we’re going to have to do.
“We might not break them down in 80 minutes, it might be a very tight game. It’s very hard to know what way the game is going to go but we just have to bring that physicality as well as we can.”
Van der Flier started in Ireland's last match in November against Australia, a 27-24 win, with CJ Stander at blindside and Jamie Heaslip at number 8. Sean O'Brien's return to full fitness has bumped the 23-year-old backwards, which was not at all a huge surprise if disconcerting for the younger player.
He was pleased to be involved against Scotland but hardly ecstatic to have been fourth choice in the current pickings.
"I was obviously very happy to be involved with the quality of back rows, the likes of Jack Conan and Tommy O'Donnell playing so well, and Dan Leavy, " he says.
“A part of me was just happy to be there but also a part of me was disappointed not to be starting so it’s kind of a bit of both. You always want to be in that starting position I suppose. Coming off the bench you want to prove why you’re there and fight for that starting place.
“I thought I could have brought a bit more off the bench. I thought I could have brought a bit more energy. We were in the lead when I came on and I lost so it’s kind of, I don’t know if that was me personally but you always kind of look at it that way.”
The sum of the team performance will be for Joe Schmidt to decide and if changes are needed or tweaks required, he won't shy away. A defeat requires some element of reaction.
The overall squad has not changed but if Schmidt has shown anything it is a willingness to publically support his players, while they have demonstrated they are worth his confidence. But collectively there needs to be a sharp mood swing.
“As players we were maybe, not off the pace, but maybe lacking a small bit of physicality and we kind of took that on the chin at half time and corrected that,” says van der Flier. “At this level it’s such small margins. You’re one per cent off and they score a try.
“We managed with a quick correction at half-time and then we were right back to the way we were playing in November. We just need to look at what we control and what we change coming into the Italy game. We have to park that disappointment and learn from the small details we didn’t get right.”
From his viewpoint, maybe selection was one of those.
