The last time Ireland lost to Scotland in the first round of the championship was at Lansdowne Road in 1998. Robbie Henshaw wouldn't remember.
It came towards the end of a long run of highland sorrow during which time Ireland hadn’t beaten Scotland in 12 years, a draw in 1994 the only respite in a dogged run of loss from 1989 to 1999 that included a World Cup pool match.
Amateur years until media moguls threw money at the sport after the ’95 World Cup, many things could be explained more simply then than they can with today’s forensic approach of analysis, science and systems.
But humans have always gotten in the way of perfection. Mistakes, mood and preparation may have been sometimes wanting back then. But these days system errors are more difficult to explain.
"I'm not sure. It's a weird one. I can't put my finger on it," says Robbie Henshaw. "Not sure. Could have been a bit of nerves. It's a big step up to your first game in the Six Nations. There could have been that bit of nervousness in the group.
“I think a little bit of everything,” he continues, fetching plausible reasons why the finely oiled Irish machine decided to stutter and halt and fall well short of the performance levels it says on the tin for a full 40 minutes.
“A little bit of indiscipline. Gave away a couple of soft penalties around ruck time and we were sloppy with the ball in certain areas when we were camped on their line late in the second half. Had a chance to go and get that fourth try but we didn’t ...
“We had a few breaks in play. There was a slap down which was missed by the officials and that could have changed the game as well. There’s a number of things where things didn’t go our way and we have ourselves to blame for that. We gave away a few sloppy penalties and gave them easy access.”
For a team that beat the All Blacks and Australia in November it’s quite a mood swing. For that reason even the well drilled players are a little out of sorts and although they bear it well, they frame the second half of the match as a successful drive back to normality.
It’s where Henshaw looks for the positives and if it’s one thing professional players are encouraged to do, it is look for positives. He acknowledges too that they have put more pressure on each other for a positive outcome in March, which is a championship win.
That door is still open. Their rattled belief remains intact.
“When we got our tails up we owned the ball and we showed what we could do,” says the inside centre. “That gave us that good confidence in the second half where we playing better rugby, playing flat to the line. We did beat them up in the second half.”
With that in mind the chance to right a wrong against Conor O’Shea’s Italian side, who have a shorter turn around after their Sunday defeat to Wales, is foremost on Irish player’s minds.
There may be selection concerns ahead on the back of the overall performance but Saturday and Rome really can’t come around fast enough.
“I think it’s a bit of frustration but yeah a massive eagerness to get out his weekend and to perform and to right the wrongs from last week,” says Henshaw.
“There’s a massive eagerness within the squad. Looking forward to training today and doing what we do.”
