Tuesday 28 February 2017 09:24, UK
Ireland "would have known the rules" if confronted by Italy's unorthodox Six Nations tactics, according to Sean O'Brien.
The Italians' refusal to form rucks against England at Twickenham on Sunday briefly threatened to bring about a stunning result as they went into half-time 10-5 up.
Eddie Jones' Grand Slam-chasing side got to grips with the chaos after half-time and eventually ran out comfortable 36-15 winners, but at one point James Haskell could be heard asking referee Romain Poite for clarification on how England might counter Italy's approach.
Asked whether Ireland would have had a sharp response in the same position O'Brien, part of the side that beat France in Dublin, said: "Yeah, absolutely, up the jumpers stuff!
"I certainly would have known the rules around it anyway. England dealt with it in the end but in fairness to the Italians they were very clever and smart in the way they went about their game plan.
"So you have to hand it to them too, but you have to adapt to those situations if they arise and it took England a little bit to do that. But they got the result they needed in the end.
"Once you're prepared properly for situations like that then it can work in your favour too. You have to be on your toes in situations like that and get everyone on the same page quickly.
"They caught them on the hop, probably, and it's one of those things. There's a free-flow effect; the Italians weren't putting anyone into the breakdown and once they got a bit of momentum they were in the game straight away.
"So that's what kept them in it until half-time but, as I said, England did the job in the end."
