James Lowe admits Ireland were thrown "a bit of a curveball" before the Italy match but doesn't believe it was intentional.
The band on duty at the Stadio Olimpico played Ireland’s Call at a noticeably slower tempo than it is usually performed.
So much so that within a few seconds of the song starting up it was met with looks of bemusement and confusion both among the playing squad on the field and the management in the stands.
There were no such problems with the playing of Fratelli d’Italia, which was pitch perfect ahead of the kick-off in a match Ireland won 34-20 to maintain their Grand Slam hopes.
It's Ireland's Call, but not as we know it. After an *ahem* interesting down-tempo rendition in Rome the action is underway.
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"It was a little bit disappointing," Lowe told RTÉ Sport. "It was a slowed down rendition, I guess.
"It was disappointing but look, it’s not their national anthem. It was a wee bit of a curveball before a Test match. But we’re all good, I don’t think it put us off at all.
"Hard to say, I don’t think it was intentional by any means.
"If you need any sort of external motivation to get you up playing for Ireland in the Six Nations you are probably not quite there.
"But we had all the motivation in the world going into that game, there was nothing extra needed."
Ireland scored five tries as they dealt with the Azzurri challenge minus a host of injured front-liners.
But yesterday’s injury bulletin provided a welcome boost for Andy Farrell with the news that Tadhg Furlong, Jamison Gibson-Park, Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose and Johnny Sexton are all included for the training camp on Wednesday and Thursday.
Ireland might have had a few more tries in Rome, including one from Lowe had the winger been more clinical when one on one with full-back Ange Capuozzo in the opening minutes.
While fending off the Toulouse player with one hand, the Leinster winger held the ball in the other with his arm outstretched and failed to ground it correctly.
"Never put the ball down with one hand," instructs the 30-year-old with a smile when asked to explain his technique that will have youth coaches up and down the country pulling their hair out.
"Every time I’m with kids and they ask me questions, [I say] never celebrate before putting it down and never put it down with one hand.
"I’m sure I’ll get given out to on Wednesday [by the Irish coaches] but at the end of the day it would have been fine if I’d put it down. It wasn’t that flash.
"Replaying it in my head, I could have just ran straight at Capuozzo, he’s quite a slender human so hopefully I would have ended up over the tryline, a little bit disappointing but fortunately we were able to score a couple more down that end."
Lowe was speaking at the launch of a new Tackle Your Feelings podcast, which will also feature Andrew Trimble, Joey Carbery, Laura Feely, Hannah O’Connor and Eimear Considine.
"It’s being released this week," said the New Zealander.
"It’s going to be awesome to share stories of how we, as professional rugby players, are able to show how we are not as invincible as you might be led to think, day to day problems affect us and how we cope with them.
"To understand that Tackle You Feelings is a platform that anyone from all walks of life can use. It will help them get through day to day life and have a better understanding of themselves."
