Lethal lineout and Crowley's composure are major pluses

Ireland's perfect lineout performance on their own throws and Jack Crowley's steely display at out-half were just just two of the more pleasing aspects flagged by the Against the Head panel from Friday night's dominant 38-17 win over France in the Guinness Six Nations.

Crowley may have erred with his kicks from hand, but finished with 13 points, including three sideline conversions, and his display can be favourably compared against his illustrious predecessors at similarly early stages in their careers.

"I think the level of scrutiny on him going into the game was insane," Donal Lenihan opined on RTÉ2.

"I was doing the radio commentary and all the media around me, almost every outlet had somebody just focused on Jack Crowley.

"Every part of his game was being dissected.

"I'd go back to Ronan O'Gara and his first cap against Scotland. We took him off 15 minutes into the second half.

"I think Johnny Sexton had one of his first Six Nations starts against England and he missed four kicks at goal.

"You can't expect Crowley to be at that level that those guys were at. It took them five or six years to get to that point, where he's expected to be there now. That's not going to happen.

"But we spoke about the mental resilience, the mental toughness. That's really not something you can coach.

"He's had that from day one. He's handled setbacks the whole way through.

"Every time he's got an opportunity - he was third behind Ben Healy and Joey Carbery when he got that call-up to go on the Emerging Ireland tour - he knew that was an opportunity.

"That two weeks changed his life because Mike Catt was on that trip and he came back and he was blown away by this young fella.

"He takes opportunities when they present themselves."

Former Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman cited Ireland's tour de force in the lineout as a major factor in the win at Stade Veldrome in Marseille.

Dan Sheehan and his late replacement Rónan Kelleher were faultless with their throwing, while Ireland also managed to pinch two French possessions.

"The lineout was absolutely crucial," Jackman insisted.

"It's crucial to Ireland, 100% of our tries at the weekend, five from five, came from lineouts as a primary source.

"The average in the Six Nations was 60%. At the World Cup it dipped.

"I think Paul O'Connell deserves massive credit. When you look at the 13 lineouts we won, the movements were sharp, they took ball where it was open and made do with possession over where we won it. I think we deserve massive credit for that."

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