Kidney wants Irish improvement

Declan Kidney accepts Ireland must deliver a significant improvement against France if their Grand Slam defence is to remain intact.

The RBS 6 Nations champions opened the tournament with a 29-11 victory over Italy at Croke Park which deteriorated as a spectacle during a grim second half.

Tries by Jamie Heaslip and Tomas O'Leary and 16 points from Ronan O'Gara ensured it was a comfortable but frustrating victory which blew away the cobwebs.

A far greater challenge looms next Saturday, however, when Ireland travel to Paris seeking only their third victory in the French capital since 1952.

Kidney refused to read his players the riot act after witnessing a far from convincing start, but admits a repeat performance will be welcomed by the Six Nations favourites.

'We'll need to do more in Paris but France should play a different game to Italy and will present their own challenges,' he said.

'In every area we need to improve, I'm under no illusions about that. If we let the same happen against France, we won't win.

'But we can't go too far down that road as seven days is a quick turnaround.

'I'm disappointed we didn't score more tries against Italy. I was hoping we'd get an extra few.

'I wouldn't be delirious about the performance but I won't knock it either. We need to keep a balance on things.'

Ireland's annoyance at their inability to demolish Italy after establishing a 23-3 lead in the 39th minute was heightened by their dominance at the set piece.

Atoning for last autumn's horror show, they bettered the feared Italian scrum, with Cian Healy enjoying mastery over Martin Castrogiovanni, while the line-out was even more one-sided.

It all looked so easy as Heaslip strolled over in the 15th minute following a slickly worked try, started by O'Gara's pass to the marauding Andrew Trimble.

When O'Leary took advantage of disarray at an Italy line-out - the Azzurri lost seven out of 12 on their own throw - Ireland appeared to be shifting through the gears, helped by O'Gara's flawless afternoon with the boot.

But Kaine Robertson crossed moments before half-time after charging down Rob Kearney's clearance, and thereafter the Irish lost their way, growing disjointed and embarking on an aimless
kicking game.

The lack of momentum played right into the hands of the attritional Italians, whose growing confidence mirrored the discomfort of their opponents.

'We need to work on our support play and look to see how we can strike off the set pieces,' said Kidney.

'We did okay defensively. Our kick chase and counter attacks must get better.

'But players will benefit from that game in that they will now be more cohesive.

'The more often they play together the better chance they have of reading the nuances of each other's body language.

'It's repetition of doing the same things. One more game will result in a few less passes dropped next time.'

Ireland's last two visits to Paris have seen France surge ahead before surviving a second-half fightback and Kidney is determined to avoid conceding early tries on Saturday.

'I haven't seen exactly the scores for the last four trips to France but maybe we should try to bat first this time by not giving them the ball,' he said.

'I'm not sure what 'Allez, allez" means but I know that if we hear it next Saturday we'll be chasing the ball around.'

Kidney names his side to face France on Tuesday and expects O'Gara to be fit despite incurring a knee problem that forced him off with 15 minutes to go.

Flanker Stephen Ferris, second row Donncha O'Callaghan and fly-half Jonathan Sexton could be available for selection after missing out against Italy through injury.