This piece was published in The Irish Examiner (18/03/2013).

The 2013 Six Nations came to an end for Ireland with a whimper in Rome, a far cry from the stunning first half against eventual champions Wales just six short weeks before.

Although some elements of the defeat to Italy could legitimately be blamed on an unfortunate sequence of injuries, other shortcomings cannot be excused.

For example, one of the few bright spots in Ireland’s series prior to Saturday was the performance of the maul, often set up from a lineout. The Irish lineout collapsed in Rome, losing four of their nine throws.

Such profligacy was in stark contrast to the pack’s sterling lineout work the previous week in awful conditions against France when Ireland had secured ball from 15 of their own throws, losing just one.

Instead of dwelling on the Italian defeat, looking back at some of Ireland’s Six Nations stats might be an interesting diversion.

Craig Gilroy’s 79 metres carried against Wales was Ireland’s best carrying day of the championship, followed by the 73 metres that Keith Earls made against Scotland.

Sean O’Brien had a superb all-round series, leading Ireland in total metres carried with 185 and making 44 tackles, second only to Donnacha Ryan’s 45. Ryan’s total of just two missed tackles was outstanding, ably backed up by his second row colleague Mike McCarthy who made 43 tackles while, like Ryan, missing just two. Honourable mentions go to Cian Healy; although suspended for the French match he managed 36 tackles over four games without a single missed effort. In the backs, Brian O’Driscoll and Conor Murray were top tacklers with 33 apiece.

It’s not surprising that Ireland’s top single-game tackling performances were mostly achieved in the Welsh match with that astonishing second-half rearguard effort at the Millennium Stadium. Of Ireland’s 200 tackles that day, Healy led the way with 21 followed by McCarthy on 20; both players achieved those figures without a single miss.

Where discipline is concerned Ireland conceded an average of 12 penalties per game, an improvement on the Autumn Series when they had conceded 15 to South Africa and 16 to Argentina. This compares reasonably well with Ireland’s opponents over the championship who conceded an average of 11 penalties per game. The Irish team’s most penalised players over the five fixtures were Mike Ross (9), Sean O’Brien (7) and Donnacha Ryan (6).

One key point that sticks out when looking back at the competition is that Declan Kidney’s team had continued their unfortunate trend of second half underperformance.

The last time Ireland managed to win a test match in which they tied or trailed at half-time was against Italy in the 2011 Six Nations opener.

Equally, in recent times when Ireland have had a lead at half-time, they’ve failed to hold it. In the 15 tests since the 2011 Rugby World Cup Ireland have actually gone in at half- time with the lead 10 times. Of those 10 matches, Ireland have emerged with just four wins. This is now a very long stretch where Irish international teams have consistently faded in tests. No matter who’s picked to play it’s hard to build positive momentum when so many matches turn into desperate efforts either failing to protect a lead or failing to come back from a deficit.