Cormac Izuchukwu admitted that watching on from the sidelines during the final minutes of Ireland’s 20-13 win over Italy on Saturday from the sidelines was a nerve-wracking experience.
Having trailed at half-time by five-points, Ireland fought back to take a seven-point advantage thanks to second-half tries from Jack Conan and Robert Baloucoune.
But Italy refused to throw in the towel and launched a huge assault on the Irish line in the final minutes, but thankfully for Ireland, their defence stood tall.
“Yeah, I was pretty nervous,” said the Ulsterman.
“Obviously I have a lot of belief too, but you know it’s quite hard, the human in you I suppose is always thinking the worst. So, I was quite nervous but I had a feeling now the lads would see it through and they did.”
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Ireland survived that last ditch Italian attack thanks to a timely intercept from the recalled James Lowe.
With the freedom of the Aviva Stadium at his mercy, Lowe took off in the hope that he could add a fourth bonus-point try.
Despite winning a penalty from the attack, Jack Crowley’s kick to touch was badly judged and went over the end line which meant that referee Hollie Davidson was left with no other option than to call full-time.
Ireland’s James Lowe (centre) is tackled by Italy’s Alessandro Fusco (centre left) and Louis Lynagh during the Guinness Men’s Six Nations match at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. Picture date: Saturday February 14, 2026. (Niall Carson/PA)
It was a phase of play that had many in the sold-out attendance demanding that Lowe kick for touch when he first gained possession, but as Izuchukwu explains, when an opportunity arises, you must go for it no matter what minute the game clock is showing.
“Yeah, yeah, but I think we speak about being ruthless all the time and always playing what’s on and listening like you get an opportunity like that at Six Nations, massive line breaker, what are you going to do? Make the most of it and I think we’re lucky with that kick in the end not to get an extra point there.”
Saturday not only marked Izuchukwu’s fourth Ireland appearance, but also his first Six Nations runout.
After an impressive debut in 2024 against Fiji, Izzy has kept himself the international set-up, and the Offlay native is hungry to win further international caps sooner rather than later.
“Yeah, it’s mental because for me, at the France game and stuff, such a big stage and I had a taste of it from sitting on the bench as the 24th man.
“But then for me I treat every Ireland game just like any Ireland game, they’re all so special to me.
“Whether it’s Portugal or Fiji or Georgia or whatever, they mean the world to me but I think I was blown away by the response from social media, online, my family, it’s such a big deal to them.
“Six Nations, maybe I didn’t grasp it as much as I should have, so that was a shock, but it kind of came to terms in the last couple of days, got my head around it and then it just kind of got stuck in.”