Fogarty: We’ll Need To Be The Best Version Of Ourselves

Tadhg Furlong is back in full training ahead of the visit of Italy this weekend, and his presence in Ireland’s front row would provide a timely boost as scrum coach John Fogarty has been ‘massively impressed’ by the Italian set-piece.

It was honours even in the scrum when the teams met in Rome last March, with Italy win all eight of their scrums, and Ireland going three from three on their feed, with one Italian reset and neither side penalised across the 80 minutes.

Since that tight 22-17 defeat to Andy Farrell’s men, the Azzurri toured South Africa in the summer and have won three of their last four Tests, including opening the 2026 Guinness Men’s Six Nations with a stirring win over Scotland.

The heavens opened above the Stadio Olimpico but Italy made light of the torrential rain to prevail 18-15 – making a winning start in the Six Nations for the first time since 2013 – and they are certainly battle-hardened having played Australia and South Africa, like Ireland, in November.

They were 100% at scrum time in their 26-19 victory over the Wallabies, along with forcing a penalty, and despite going down 32-14 to the Springboks the following week, they outscrummaged the World champions, picking up three penalties in the process.

Their go-to props, Danilo Fischetti and Simone Ferrari, have 129 caps between them, and Stade Français Paris hooker Giacomo Nicotera completes the front row trio. They played the first hour together against Scotland, and were also prominent defensively with a combined 51 tackles.

Giving his assessment of the Italian scrum, Fogarty said: “Italy played South Africa in November before we played South Africa, and Italy took a couple of penalties off them. They shoved South Africa off their own ball which is no easy task.

“I think South Africa were fired up coming over here because of what Italy did to them. So, Italy turned Australia over at scrum time and they got five penalties out of Scotland. Unbelievably well connected, very compact scrum that is unbelievably committed as a group.

“I’m a rugby fan. I loved watching that game (against Scotland) because it was tight, the conditions, and you saw a team dig it out and everyone loves that.”

He continued: “They play for each other massively and in the scrum we can see that clearly. So, we need to be clear again on what the threats are but also double down on what it is that worked for us in France, and go to work now.

“We need to do things our way. Sometimes I think in the past we were looking at other scrums and we get distracted by what they can do and how we can stop them.

“We’ve really started to look at ourselves and what we do, what the Irish way of doing things is at scrum time, and we’re in an okay place. It went okay last week.”

Ireland’s scrum went well against France and gives them a solid base to work off heading into round 2. The pre-tournament injuries on both the loosehead and tighthead side saw three props with 10 or less caps involved in last Thursday night’s opener.

Jeremy Loughman packed down at loosehead for his first Six Nations start, Thomas Clarkson donned the number 3 jersey for only the second time in the Championship, and Birr native Michael Milne marked his first taste of Six Nations action with a try off the bench.

In Ireland’s six previous Six Nations clashes with Italy under head coach Farrell, Andrew Porter made five starts – four at loosehead, and one at tighthead in 2020 – while the last three such games have seen Finlay Bealham picked as the starting tighthead, with Furlong starting before that in both 2021 and 2022.

The injury-enforced absences of Porter, Paddy McCarthy, and Jack Boyle opened the way for Loughman to begin the 2026 tournament in possession of the number 1 jersey. If last week’s Dan Sheehan-helmed front row remains intact, Clarkson’s involvement would have his family bursting with pride.

The 25-year-old, who was actually christened ‘Tommaso’, has strong links with Italy, and could in fact have been playing against the men in green on Saturday as his mum Nina’s parents hail from the village of Casalattico, in between Naples and Rome, and emigrated to Ireland.

The Italian Rugby Federation approached him in 2023 about pursuing an international career with Italy, but having just signed a new contract with Leinster, ‘TC’ turned down the offer, and his progression at provincial level was duly rewarded with his first two Ireland caps in November 2024.

If Farrell’s charges needed any reminder of how dangerous Italy can be, they only have to look back to the final round of last year’s Six Nations when they had to fight all the way for that five-point triumph in the Italian capital.

After being outplayed by defending champions France for upwards of 50 minutes, Fogarty knows the pressure is on to deliver a swift return to winning ways and a performance with marked improvements all round.

Staying connected and patient will be key, as it often takes a lot to break Italy down – they were the only team in the first round with a tackle success rate above 90%, and they also had the best defensive lineout with five steals against Scotland.

“I think a reaction doesn’t happen just because you didn’t go as well the week before. That’s why I’m talking about the understanding of what it is they are capable of. Making that really clear.

“And I think they’ll be frustrated and I think there will be a reaction of sorts, but a connected, joined-up reaction is what we’re looking for.

“It will need to be. Italy, a good side, well coached, across their back-line they’ve got threats. Strong, quick. We’ll see the kicking game again. Monty Ioane will be firing off the lines.

“I know (Ange) Capuozzo is back, so plenty of guys to chase. So, it will all be out there on the field and we need to make sure we’re the best version of ourselves,” adddd Fogarty.

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