Paul O’Connell adamant Ireland need to hold onto ball more

Paul O'Connell is adamant Ireland need to hold on to the ball more, which to the untrained eye must seem an odd comment considering the amount Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray kicked as an attacking ploy.

It’s the way of this Ireland team. Put it up and rely on Tommy Bowe’s aerial agility honed playing Gaelic football to bat it back to a welcoming Jamie Heaslip.

“We have to hold on to the ball,” said Ireland’s still inspirational captain after this shaky performance. “For us it is about having the ball. At times we were inaccurate today. We turned the ball over as well with penalties which gave them access to our territory and put us under pressure.

“I think we are good when we get the ball.”

Severe pressure

Conor Murray seems to rarely think about his alternatives when Ireland are under pressure. And they were under severe enough pressure during this Pool D victory over Italy. The scrumhalf's mindset seems to be to put boot to ball regardless of other options.

O’Connell’s comments are put to Murray and the suggestion that maybe he over kicked.

“It’s just the way the game went,” he replied. “We found ourselves exiting quite a bit. Because we weren’t breaking them down, because we weren’t as clinical as we usually are we didn’t feel the need to run from deep. We exited quite well which will probably be important next week.

“Maybe we could have got the ball in hand more.”

Sergio Parisse took a similar line to Warren Gatland when talking of Ireland. "Perhaps the result would have been different if Josh (Furno) had not gone into touch," said the Italian captain. "Ireland just kicked a lot and didn't take any risks. They are very tactical, kick a lot in the air, no risks. Is it enough to beat France? I don't know. Not my problem."

Robbie Henshaw is last through the mixed zone. The World Cup debut finally achieved after recovering from a hamstring injury, he was disappointed and frustrated.

“Bit of a slog through the game. I didn’t get that much ball in hand. We kicked a bit more in the second half and we didn’t build the phases. I suppose the breakdown was a bit of an issue.”

Running battle

O'Connell was having a running battle with referee Jerome Garces. Over a whole number of areas where he felt Italy were getting away with blue murder.

“When calls aren’t going your way you get frustrated,” O’Connell added. “I disagreed with the scrum; we were having to ask every scrum for their loosehead to show his shoulder. It just got frustrating every time when you have to ask, you want to concentrate on your own job and not be worrying what the other team is doing.

“I suppose the ruck would be another bone of contention.We found it hard to get quick ruck ball but a lot of those problems we need to solve ourselves in the game. We are prepared to solve them ourselves in terms of how we carry, how we present, before next week other than having to look at the referee.”

And France, Paul?

“I haven’t got a fantastic record against France. They’re an incredible side with incredible talent. They have size, physicality and, obviously, great skill. They play with a lot of passion and emotion as well. Any Irish team that goes up against a French team, it’s always a massive challenge for us. In recent years, we’ve done well but the games have been really, really tight.

“For us, we’ve had to produce massive performances to make those games tight. I think we’ve had two draws in the last four years. We’ve managed to win two but they’ve been one- score games. It’s a mountain of challenge.”