Ireland v Italy: ‘After dominating France, Ireland need to watch improving Italy’

There was a lot of hype surrounding the Six Nations opener between Ireland and France on Friday and it delivered – well, one team certainly did.

Yes, France had issues with the 14 men, but I honestly don’t think the cards changed the outcome as Ireland were so in control.

Other than 10 minutes when they looked good before half-time, when their power game got going, France looked pretty rudderless.

Obviously missing a second row like Paul Willemse after his red card hampered their set piece, but it was also down to really good defence from Ireland.

I had been asked last week if it was good to be up against a big side first, and I think Ireland delivered on that and they laid down a bit of a marker.

It’s a great platform to build from for the rest of the tournament.

‘Ireland performance didn’t surprise me’

It didn’t surprise me with how good Ireland were. We expect high levels from ourselves and we saw that on all fronts on Friday.

However, France’s performance did surprise me. I think the biggest takeaway from is just how important Antoine Dupont is.

We all know he is France’s talisman, and you will always miss a world-class player, but you only realise how much he dictates the play when he wasn’t there to steer the ship.

They were probably missing that creativity and that spark he provides when they went down to 14 men.

That’s not to take away from Ireland’s performance. They didn’t quite make them look average, but that is our biggest win away to France so that tells you all you need you know.

You’ve seen it in the past when a team goes down to 14 men and then, suddenly, the team with a full deck of players attempts something new or tries to force it because they feel they should be scoring straight away.

You get errors off the back of that and, when that happens, the team with 14 men can be galvanised and give them hope that they are still in the game.

But the fact Ireland were so clinical in what they did, it didn’t give France a chance to galvanise, other than that period before half-time.

Outside of that, the pressure Ireland put on them didn’t give France an opportunity to get back into it. In terms of away performances, in the cauldron of France, that’s as good as it gets.

‘Ireland need to be wary of improving Italians’

We have talked a lot in the past few years about how much Italy are improving, and that was evident again against England on Saturday.

They looked superb in the first half and showed a lot of what they can do, with the style of fast rugby they can play.

I’m sure they will be very disappointed they weren’t able to see it through as that would have been a massive win for them.

You could see it against England and even in the Six Nations last year, they are constantly improving and they have the players to go and do it now.

They are now on the cusp of being a side who will win a few games in the Six Nations and cause a shock or two.

Andy Farrell will be ramming home the message that Ireland will not be on the receiving end of that.

Having been in previous camps, I know that complacency is not a word in the squad’s vocabulary.

Momentum is huge in the Six Nations and Ireland will be focused on not only backing up the win over France, but improving on it.

It would be a huge let down if they could not back up that performance, especially in front of a home crowd, but I know they will want to be better and better. I think Italy will bring a lot this week and it will be a really good game.

When you are in the squad there is such a focus on the next game, that’s the only game that matters. From the outside I am really excited to see where this tournament can take us now.

Before a ball was kicked I tipped Ireland to win back-to-back Grand Slams. Dominating France has set firm foundations, and avoiding an upset against Italy will be another step towards that goal.

Rob Herring was speaking to BBC Sport NI’s Andy Gray.