James Lowe: We missed Garry Ringrose, that's it at the end of the day

They say you don't know what you’ve got till it’s gone and the absence of Garry Ringrose for Ireland on Saturday was a timely reminder of that.

The Leinster centre, who was set to win his 50th international cap, was a late withdrawal with a calf complaint on the eve of the Guinness Six Nations round three clash with Italy.

That meant Stuart McCloskey was promoted from the bench and Bundee Aki pushed out to second centre, an unfamiliar position for the Lions Test starter.

Italy made hay, taking advantage of the relatively novel midfield pairing, as they almost pulled off an unlikely shock against Andy Farrell's unbeaten side.

Watching on, it was noticeably that Ringrose’s defensive nous and instinctive decision-making in midfield was sorely missed.

"Ringrose is the glue in the middle of the field," said Eddie O'Sullivan on RTÉ Sport's Against the Head.

"Like in the old days, Brian O'Driscoll was the glue in our midfield defence. He makes all the reads, he does all the talking."

It's something that team-mate and left-winger James Lowe couldn't disagree with.

"Garry is world class," Lowe says when asked if Ireland missed the 28-year-old centre.

"Yeah, we did miss Garry. That’s it at the end of the day.

"I don’t think the two other boys in the midfield did a bad job.

"We went over there and [Italy] were physical and smart with the ball in hand. Their attack was exceptional in a lot of ways and put us under a lot of pressure.

"Normally when you get picked apart out wide it’s because things aren't going right on the inside. You are losing collisions.

"We missed Garry, I think. He’s an exceptional footballer but our two big boys certainly did a job."

It might not have gone according to script but Ireland showed true grit, minus arguably