Well this was one bright spot at least. Ireland lost their second straight Six Nations encounter, going down 21-10 at Twickenham to England. That leaves them without a win after three games for the time in the Six Nations era.
While it was obviously disappointing for the team not to leave with a win, the impact made by the three debutantes will give Irish fans hope for the future. Stuart McCloskey and Josh van der Flier both took a bit of time to grow into the game but the former was immense in defence and eventually showed his power in attack while the latter tackled tigerishly throughout.
But the real rookie star was Connacht's Ultan Dillane. His carrying quickly stood out as a major asset for Ireland and he managed to make 27m off 7 carries, which is very good for a second row. He combined particularly well with van der Flier late in the second half, which almost saw Ireland profit with a crucial try.
Donnacha Ryan played very well this afternoon, while Devin Toner was a bit quieter. It will be very interesting to see the composition of the second row when Ireland host Italy in two weeks time and whether Dillane did enough in today's cameo to warrant a starting role.
