Ireland 23 – 20 Italy

Ireland managed to grind out a win against Italy in Ravenhill this evening, with a flurry of tires in the last five minutes.
Clearly a three point win against Italy is not the perfect scenario going into the World Cup, however credit to Italy they are a physical team who made Ireland work very hard for the win.
Up front Ireland were once again struggling to gain command of the set pieces, this seems to be a recurring problem for Ireland as they lack the physical power at times to clear out opponents.

With a little over two weeks till Ireland’s first game of the World Cup, it’s now or never. Ireland are lucky not to be facing either France or Argentina in their first two games, hopefully Namibia and Georgia will give Ireland the extra time needed to move into first gear and complete their preparation for the big boys.

Have Ireland got enough time to move into first gear?