A spanking in France, an escape to a victory in Dublin. What can Ireland expect this coming weekend when they face a wounded England in London’s Twickenham Stadium?
On the evidence of our humbling against France, you would be forgiven for saying “very little.”
And in truth you could be forgiven for uttering the same response if you were to base your evidence on our performance against Italy in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The reality is we are a far cry from the Ireland team which won a test series in New Zealand four seasons ago and beat World Champions South Africa twice before they went on to collect their second World Title in France two and a half years ago.
The front-foot rugby, the unmatched athleticism, the ability to keep opponents guessing over what our next move would be - these facets are long gone.
What is there now instead is a team struggling in the tight and as predictable as a cuckoo clock in the loose or when the ball travels across the three-quarter line.
Maybe the image of the season which proves our rapidly declining change in fortune will be the shot where second half replacement and legendary Lion prop Tadhg Furlong is sent airborne in a scrum …. Not by Springboks, All Blacks or even Pumas but by an Italian front eight.
All is certainly changed, changed utterly in Irish rugby. Head Coach Andy Farrell can read the signs as good as the next man and his decision to make six changes suggested that he was trying to plug some holes.
It worked in some areas but not in others. So this week heading to England, he will be on a kamakashi course if he maintains a young outhalf in Sam Prendergast who for the moment is way out of his depth.
Against a mighty England front eight, we will be penalised to hell if we go with the starting packs from either of the last two weeks. We may not win by solidifying the scrum but we will prevent a massacre of sorts that is in the air if we repair the front eight… and then hope for the best.
Time will tell if he gets the personnel right and from this advantage point of writing at the weekend, we can only wish him and the Ireland squad well.
England were humbled by Scotland in Murrayfield last Saturday and while that punctures their tyres following a run of a dozen winning games, it also sets us up as the opposition where they take their frustration of a third rate showing out on this Saturday in North London.
This year’s Six Nations is a mixture of the good and the transitional groups. We thought France and England would be the dominant ones, that Scotland and Ireland might be in the middle and Italy and Wales would battle it out for the wooden spoon.
After two games, the complexion has changed. France will win all five games by the looks of it, England may recover to be second and the third spot will be between ourselves, Scotland and Italy.
The Azzurri outfit were very impressive in dismantling Scotland in the opening round and the sadness on their faces when they failed to force a draw against us in Lansdowne Road last Saturday is proof that this squad in blue believe they can go head to head with any of the top five nations now.
With time in the red zone and the Italians battering our try-line to get over, Irish fans were on the edge of their seats as the visitors went over and back seeking a penetration spot.
It ended for them when recalled winger James Lowe intercepted a pass and drove us half the field before the Italians were forced to give away a penalty. That should have seen us go into the corner to look for a bonus point by getting the fourth try but inexplicably, replacement out-half Jack Crowley kicked the ball dead instead of into touch to signal the end of the game.
Neither he nor Prendergast are up to it at the moment and from my point of view, I can’t understand why Farrell persists with tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum when we have Harry Byrne in the wings. He is a much more mature outhalf than either of this pair and like Johnny Sexton, has the know-how to get his backs moving in a way that can keep opponents guessing.
Saturday’s hot and cold performance started well when we took advantage of an Italian sin-binning to send James Osborne over for a try which Prendergast failed to convert - the first of two such horrible conversion attempts.
If we thought that early try would open the flood gate, we needed to think again.
Instead, it was Italy who upped their game and played most of the better rugby from that point to the end. The exception was when Ireland got a lift from the introduction of Crowley, Furlong and Tadhg Beirne during which time they scored the two tries that saw us get over the line with Crowley adding a conversion and a penalty.
Afterwards Farrell was bullish about the display against what he described as “the best Italian team to play Ireland” and stressed that the experience would stand to his side in the future.
“We were playing against a very good Italian side that was never going to go away, because history shows us that, and how they've been performing. But obviously, it was more than that, wasn't it? They were trying to batter the door down at the end. So, the resilience that we showed to win the game was fantastic to see. So, that's the bigger picture stuff.
“Obviously, there's too many errors within our game at certain times, but the character shown to come back and have the courage to play the type of rugby that we did at times was very encouraging. The try that we scored with all those phases was as good a try as we've ever scored. So, it just shows that we're able to back ourselves. I think, on top of that, the experience that some of these lads are getting is absolutely huge.”
The fresh blood in the line-up did well, none more so that wing Rob Baloucoune who scored that vital third try with an explosive burst that was a fitting end to our best move of the match.
Referring to the man of the match, Farrell said: “Delighted for him because we've obviously had a few caps before, but it's been a stop-start and it's been frustrating for him. The talent for everyone to see when he puts the Ulster jersey on, to get the opportunity now coming back into fitness and to show what he can do at this type of level is very pleasing for him and for the rest of us.
“To see him believing in himself and backing himself, not just beating people and scoring tries, but winning balls in the air. A very good defensive decision-maker as well,” he added.
Jamie Osborne, Jack Conan and Baloucoune got our tries and five points from Jack Crowley was just enough to escape to victory but Crowley’s faux pas from a penalty into touch which went instead into the goal area meant we couldn’t get a bonus point - something that is quite unforgivable at this level as it shows a lack of concentration.
Despite that the Head Coach was fulsome in his praise for the reserve outhalf.
“I thought Jack played outstandingly well when he came on, so I'm actually gutted for him because you know he wouldn't normally do that. There's a few things to check there as far as offside and jumping up and down in his eyeline for the kick, but still it was a bit of a shank, but that wouldn't be the overriding thought of what I take from Jack's game."
Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada, was disappointed that his side fell just short despite the herculean effort to force a share of the spoils. "We are competitors and when you see the last minutes of the game and the whole game, you can feel that we were close at least to a nice and deserved draw.
"I'm also aware that we are playing in Dublin against Ireland and the size of this team, in every sense of the word. My main emotion is a lot of pride.”
Edwin Edogbo had a special moment when he ran on to make his debut with 10 minutes left in the match. The giant Munster lock was greeted by a huge cheer when he ran onto the pitch to replace James Ryan.
“Good experience, obviously challenging first game and all that, trying to get my head around speed and the intensity of it, but happy with the win, happy with how the team performed. It was an unbelievable experience,” he declared.
