Analysis: Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne’s midfield partnership is close to clicking

Not quite there but they will be a real handful for the rest of the Six Nations hopefuls

Ahead of the Italy match, we put it to Joe Schmidt that the time for experimentation was over - Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne were his midfield partnership for this tournament and, all things going well, the World Cup. Without missing a beat, the coach responded, 'No... Those two have only played together once. We're still trying to find out whether that is the best combination. We're still very much open-minded but we felt that Robbie and Jared deserved another opportunity together.' It is a partnership, Schmidt added, that had shown promise in the November win over South Africa game and convinced him to put his confidence in the pair. 'Genuinely,' he commented, 'you'll see and we'll see, how the two lads go.'

Slow starters

Like most of their Ireland team-mates, Henshaw and Payne struggled to impose any sort of attacking game in the first half in Rome. The Connacht man, playing inside centre, made the second defensive tackle of the game as Italy claimed their own kick-off. Payne was next up and went low on hooker Leonardo Ghiraldini. His back-up was Ian Keatley, who, remarkably, was making his third defensive contribution in the first 25 seconds. Keatley was putting too much on his early punts from hand, stunting Ireland's kick-chase, pressure plans. Their first chance of a set-play in the Italian half came with an attacking line-out, on 11 minutes. Payne carried well and presented good ball but Keatley's failure to find Tommy O'Donnell with a reverse pass ended the move. Henshaw played a role in the Kelly Haimona hold up that led to an Irish scrum put-in. Tactical kicking and both sets of forwards dominated proceedings for the while and, when a good platform was established, on 26 minutes, Conor Murray failed to connect with Payne after a dummy run by his midfield partner. Keatley's quick thinking, and kick, prevented a turnover. Henshaw's chance to carve the Italians up arrived a minute later but, with just Leonardo Sarto left at home, he fumbled an O'Donnell pass and the chance was lost. The second half was better, from an attacking point of view, for the centre pairing. Henshaw's defence also came to the fore as he landed nine of his 15 tackles. A couple of his hits were big - 'strong shoulders', as Schmidt called them. His first positive contribution came, out on the left wing, when he snatched a loose, bouncing pass for a turnover. With possession in Ireland's favour and blue jerseys sucked into rucks, Ireland often found themselves with space, and men, outside. In the still below, Henshaw should take the straighter line [in yellow] but, instead, he veers wide [red line] into congestion. By the time he releases to Rob Kearney, the fullback has little room to manoeuvre. On 51 minutes, Payne makes his best attacking dart of the match. Positioned out wide, he take a nice, long pass from Simon Zebo and dashes towards the tryline, Sarton and Ghiraldini take him down. Henshaw is in support but he can't snatch the ball and spills it forward. It would be another 15 minutes before Ireland found themselves in such a promising position, inside the Italian 22. Payne, who made one more promising foray down the left wing, was withdrawn for the final quarter but Henshaw remained on until the rain-soaked end. Following O'Donnell's try - Ireland's second - Italy began to attack and, on 74 minutes, produced their best backline move. Slick passing gave Luke McLean room to sprint up the left wing but Henshaw tracked him well and tackled the winger around the ankles. There was a defensive blip, two minutes later, when Henshaw was caught in two minds and McLean was able to cruise into a big hole left by Ian Madigan [the replacement out-half] and the inside centre. Iain Henderson and Tommy Bowe snuffed out the threat but Ireland still had to sweat over a late TMO decision that ruled out a consolation try from Kelly Haimona. Game over and the centre pairing had now doubled their Test outings together. George Hook, on punditry duty for RTE, was not convinced by Henshaw-Payne but came from a familiar face.

Contrary to some belief I thought the centres went really well today. Henshaw is the real deal. — Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll) February 7, 2015

Post-match, Schmidt commented, 'Henshaw put some very heavy shoulders in and really stopped Italy's momentum... There were a couple of times [Henshaw and Payne] combined really well, particularly in the second-half. Jared got into good space [down the left] and got away. Robbie, unfortunately, couldn't pick it up. He was very close to the line but couldn't finish it off. 'I thought they defended well together. The pack's defence was great, which made their job a little easier, but they put a fair bit of pressure on, on both sides of the ball. When they carried, they got us over the advantage line... [The partnership] is at its embryonic stage, to be honest. They have not spent a lot of time together and it's a long time between South Africa, three months ago, and today.' Henshaw and Payne are far from the finished article but there were enough glimpses, last Saturday, to merit another outing against the French. Schmidt looks to have chosen the pair as first choice centres but, as he points out, there is a long queue of suitors lying in wait.