And, with that, all the optimism fades.
If ever confirmation was needed that the Six Nations is a different beast to the Autumn Internationals, the final scoreboard reading 27-22 in Scotland on Saturday provided just that.
Two tries conceded inside the first 20 minutes set the tone for a bad opening to Ireland’s Six Nations campaign and Joe Schmidt revealed afterwards that their were events before kick off that might’ve contributed to that uncharacteristically slow start.
“The slow start definitely wasn’t down to complacency,” he said.
“We arrived about 15 minutes late to the stadium and we were late for most things all first-half. We were sluggish, we got some really good field position in the first half and didn’t convert. That was frustrating.
“We were on time leaving the hotel it just took a long time to get to the ground.
“Those things happen, it’s not an excuse for being late for things in the first-half, it’s probably a reflection of the way the start of the day went for us.
“Our recovery was 40 minutes too late but there were solutions that were demonstrated. But the key is we’ve got to start better.
“One of the things that’s a danger is that when you consistently deliver something you tend to just have an expectation it’s going to happen. We have tended to start well in recent Test matches, so for us not to start well, there was certainly a sluggishness of thought and movement in the first-half.”
Deserved? https://t.co/H7rh3Jt65d
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 4, 2017
Ireland were said to be stuck in traffic en route to the stadium for the clash with Scotland but had no police escort.
One performance at least that was heartening was that of stand-in fly-half Paddy Jackson. With Johnny Sexton missing the opener in Scotland, the Ulster man chipped in with a solid performance that saw him break over the line too and he might be needed again in Italy next week.
The big question, as is generally inevitable after a result like this, is will Sexton be available against Italy?
“To be honest I’m not sure at this stage,” Schmidt said of the Leinster man.
“We’re going to wait and see.
“Johnny was not that far away so he could come into the picture. But the more time Paddy gets… the Six Nations is different.
“It was tough for Paddy today, when the ball is slow it’s hard to get things moving and running.
“There was a lot of bodies on the floor at the breakdown and it did make it very hard. Conor [Murray] was reaching over, the ball was slow and that made it very difficult for Paddy.
“Because that was slow, they got off the line well and Paddy was crowded in the first-half.”
It was just a bad bloody day all round.
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