There were 21 missed tackles by Irish players in last weekend’s win over Scotland.
Mike Ross was only guilty of one but he was a central figure in two of the tries Ireland conceded.
Gordon D’Arcy and Paul O’Connell were also singled out in some of Scotland’s most dangerous second-half attacks.
Props are often targeted by opposition players and coaches but this is beginning to occur to Ross on a regular basis.
Ireland’s winning habit secured them their 28-22 win over Vern Cotter’s side but not every team they face will baulk, like the Scots did, when a match is there to be won.
In the lead-up to Scotland’s first try, Ireland looked defensively set and in good shape.
However, it only takes one line break, offload or trucking to create an opening. The latter happened to Ross as he was bounced by Scottish No. 8 Dave Denton.
The impact of the hit drew in Devin Toner and Simon Zebo – somewhat wildly – to plug the hole. It led to space out wide and a Richie Vernon offload saw Blair Cowan dive over in the corner.
Ross was exposed again, early in the second half, and it led to Scotland’s second try.
Another spell of good Scottish pressure saw them going through phases around Ireland’s 5m line.
Scotland scrum-half Henry Pyrgos sold Ross with a dummy pass before stepping off his left foot and diving for the line. The tighthead was caught unawares and opted to slide into a challenge rather than go low.
Stealth over bulk paid off.
While Ross had another good day at the scrum, he is increasingly finding himself targeted by opposition attacks.
Wales scored a try off it last week as they set Ireland up to leave him exposed for a two-on-one.
After claiming a line-out, the ball was popped to Justin Tipuric, who wrapped around to the front. Ross was planted; not expecting traffic to come his way.
He opted to take out Tipuric but not before he passed for Richard Hibbard to score.
Paul O’Connell and Gordon D’Arcy, two of Ireland’s other 35-year-olds, were easily bypassed by the Scots in the second-half.
O’Connell was caught on his heels by a midfield burst while D’Arcy backpedaled while Sean Lamont ran at him and fell off a tackle.
It led to Peter Horne’s try.
Ian Madigan and Luke Fitzgerald came to the party, five minutes after Horne’s try, and Ireland claimed their 13th win in 14 Tests.
The defensive errors by Ireland’s elder statesmen was one of the worrying aspects from the warm-up win.
If we caught these mistakes, one can be sure that Joe Schmidt has too. That is our consolation.
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