Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times hails the welcome return of some incision to Ireland's play behind the scrum in Sunday's victory over Italy.
"Where did that back play come from? While there had been hints of a revival in Ireland’s back play amid a New Plymouth downpour against the USA, and outstanding though the win was against Australia as well as some of the finishing against Russia, the most encouraging aspect of the victory over Italy was the new-found clinical nature and general attacking play of the front-line backs.
"At times the Irish backs became a little too lateral in the first half, and twice revived memories of August by running over the left hand touchline. But even in the try-less first-half there was a noticeably better shape to their running game, with depth augmented by plenty of inside balls and trailer runners to change the point of attack to keep the Italian defence guessing.
"With Sean O’Brien (eh, 14 carries at number seven) and Stephen Ferris as target runners, by rights it should have been rewarded with a try when Tommy Bowe ran one of his trailers on to the flanker’s offload to touch down under the posts.
"In any event, at half-time, they regrouped and became a bit more direct in the second half, the net effect being that they created the space out wide before going wide, and didn’t run out of field by going over the touchline again."
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