Schmidt says Ireland playing catch-up after difficult Six Nations start

Six Nations holders receive middling grade from coach after rough opening victory in Rome

Ireland flanker Jordi Murphy, second right, runs past Italy fly-half Kelly Haimona, left, during their Six Nations match at the Olympic Stadium in Rome on February 7, 2015. Gabriel Bouys / AFP

ROME // Joe Schmidt believes England set the Six Nations “benchmark” with victory over Wales, leaving Ireland already chasing to keep up and hold on to their title.

Ireland coach Schmidt says his side must improve “between 30 and 40 per cent” from their 26-3 win over Italy on Saturday to stand any chance of reaching England’s early level.

Stuart Lancaster's side set the standard with a 21-16 victory in Cardiff.

Former schoolteacher Schmidt offered up a must-do-better report after tries from Conor Murray and Tommy O’Donnell while Leonardo Ghiraldini was in the sin-bin sealed victory in Rome.

“The benchmark was set by England last night. England just kept the pressure right on Wales and the physical nature of that battle means we’ve got a bit of work to do without a doubt,” Schmidt said. “We’ll have to roll our sleeves up early on next week and hopefully put together a sufficiently improved performance to be competitive against France.

“We were between 30 and 40 per cent off that against Italy: we wouldn’t have lived with them [England] last night, and I thought Wales were pretty good.

"For us, we certainly need to up our game. I do think that part of it was the pressure Italy put on us but, at the same time, I know we can do better than that and we're going to have to.

“I think Italy will improve through the tournament as well. They showed glimpses of what they are capable of.”

Flanker Sean O’Brien injured a hamstring in the warm-up and was forced out of his first Test action since November 2013. Schmidt is hopeful O’Brien will be fit to face France in Dublin next weekend, with hooker Rory Best also expected to be ­available.

Best was withdrawn in the second half as a precaution after taking a knock to the head.

“It was the very last thing Sean did in the warm-up: he just put his foot down, it slid out from under him and he twinged his hamstring,” Schmidt said of O’Brien.

“His power’s really good, it was probably a marginal decision at the time, but we didn’t want a repeat of what happened when we came here last time where we lost a few. It was great he was able to be replaced by Tommy O’Donnell and the manner Tommy played.”

Schmidt felt Six Nations debutant Ian Keatley, 27, was “nervous” but praised the Munster man’s flawless goal-kicking.

Keatley’s four penalties kept Ireland in front in the stodgy, try-less first hour at the Stadio Olimpico.

“Obviously he kicked 100 per cent from the tee and that allowed us to establish some scoreboard pressure, and without that it would have been difficult,” Schmidt said.

“In the game I felt at times he was probably a little nervous at times, and we’ll have a chat about that. That experience will help him acquit himself in the future.”

Italy captain Sergio Parisse called on his side to overhaul their failing lineout or face serious punishment against the English at Twickenham next weekend.

“We only had 30 per cent possession, and that’s not enough,” Parisse said. “You can’t defend for 80 minutes against a team like Ireland.

“Next week we must improve our lineouts and have more possession if we want to be competitive at Twickenham.”

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