Ireland 16 Italy 11: Two minutes from time and Ireland are leading by a try to Italy. Oh dear. Oh well. Nothing left to do but close out the game and, on foot of the introduction of Peter Stringer, Ireland assume a Munsteresque approach to the end game with a sequence of pick-and-go drives.

Whereupon the ball is moved to Ronan O'Gara and he grubbers through for Andrew Trimble and Brian O'Driscoll to chase. The 50-50 ball is lost on the deck.

Thus a needlessly nervous finale ensued against an Italian side who, on all available evidence, were never likely to find a way through from around half-way. Even so, that endgame cameo demanded the question: would O'Gara, Ireland's best player by far, have opted for a grubber in the same circumstances for Munster? Would the ball even have been moved to O'Gara? One doubts it, and it raised yet more questions about the leadership and direction of this team, both on and off the pitch. More than ever, it seems as if the general if not exact mix of Munster forwards and halves, and Leinster backs, is not gelling.

Even more of a riddle from this puzzling game was how many good individual performances were on display - not surprising given the rejuvenated form some of them had lately compared to the World Cup - and yet how it added up to yet another undistinguished all-round effort.

There were the shoots of redemption in the opening half-hour or so, when O'Gara was masterfully pulling the strings. For starters, there was even evidence of some offloading beyond the traditional sources in midfield. Denis Leamy was particularly prominent, once taking an excellent line off Eoin Reddan's popped pass and offloading to Malcolm O'Kelly, thus kick-starting one of Ireland's best bouts of continuity in the match.

But like much else about Ireland's phased attacks, it foundered on the overly flat alignment of the attacking line. When the ball was moved across the pitch, Rory Best's lack of depth and line of running meant it was physically impossible for him to move the ball on, where Gordon D'Arcy and Andrew Trimble had a two-on-one overlap. It could have been an outstanding try.

Ireland's lack of depth almost makes it more difficult for ball carriers to take the ball at pace, attack the space or break the tackle and offload.

Despite Nick Mallett having had only eight days to work with his new charges and being obliged to try out a brand-new halfback partnership, when the Azzurri began going through the phases they actually had more shape, numbers and depth.

Admittedly, Ireland had the more potent runners and likelier game breakers, but in the face of Italy's faster line speed in defence either ran into midfield traffic, as in the recent past, or cross-kicked via O'Gara over the Italians' narrow defence.

It was a tactic that yielded their one try and could have reaped a bigger dividend. Geordan Murphy having taken a good line on to O'Gara's skip pass in a brief glimpse of what could be were he ever entrusted with strike-running duties, O'Gara cross-kicked expertly for Trimble to gather above the hapless Pablo Canavosio and offload superbly for Girvan Dempsey, who'd held his depth, to score.

There was some validity to Eddie O'Sullivan's claim that had Ireland then taken one or two of the chances they created they would have put more daylight on the scoreboard. Most obviously, when Murphy gathered another cross-kick, a combination of his pass not being flat and low enough, and Dempsey overrunning it, the chance went abegging.

But once Canavosio was replaced and the Italians' covered the cross-kick, Ireland struggled for openings. It didn't help that Ireland's lineout malfunctioned, even when going to the corner, and this was largely down to an issue of Best's rustiness and throwing. So much for that form pick, although, of course, there are issues too about Bernard Jackman's throwing.

Even in that opening 30 minutes or so it was extraordinary how much O'Gara and O'Driscoll kicked the ball. With Italy lacking a kicking outhalf, Ireland had much the better of the game territorially, particularly in the second half. Even so, their maul became by far the most potent weapon of a poor second half, and fittingly that yielded the only try of the half.

In the absence of daylight on the scoreboard, and a power failure that left the clock at the Canal End stuck at 2.49pm - a parable for the performance in some respects - the handling errors and poor execution betrayed the clear signs of a team lacking belief and confidence.

Whether it was a matter of playing slightly to the gallery, or at any rate to the ever-expanding army of critics regarding his bench policy, there was even a hint of a Damascene conversion by Eddie O'Sullivan to the notion of replacements as impacts.

But given Best, O'Kelly and John Hayes were visibly wilting, even O'Sullivan had little option but to make changes.

Reddan played very well, passing long and crisply as well as sniping effectively. Yet his effectiveness was very individualistic and did not yield the dividend it ought to have done had team-mates been on the same wavelength. A classic example was his searing break at the end of the first quarter off the base of a scrum, perfectly positioned 15 metres from the right touchline.

It was almost as if Reddan did it off the cuff, for when he had broken clear there were no close-at-hand support runners, so much so that his counterpart, Pietro Travagli, picked off the inside pass.

Similarly, while he had to do some excavating at ruck time because of Ireland's sluggishness in clearing the ball out, as many observers at the game noticed, the ball was frequently visible and available. But for all the coach's talk of needing quick ball, that opportunity was sometimes declined as options were weighed up.

Ireland, or to be more accurate London Wasps, have unearthed a genuine talent in Reddan, but he looks like a Wasps playmaking scrumhalf in the midst of the mix. This is much like the Munster-Leinster mix. It hasn't gelled.

Scoring sequence: 12 mins: O'Gara pen 3-0: 18: Dempsey try, O'Gara con 10-0; 37: Bortolussi pen 10-3; 58: O'Gara pen 13-3; 60: Castrogiovanni try 13-8; 65: O'Gara pen 16-8; 70: Bortolussi pen 16-11.

IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); A Trimble (Ulster), O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), G Murphy (Leicester); R O'Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps); M Horan (Munster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), M O'Kelly (Leinster); S Easterby (Llanelli), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster). Replacements: R Kearney (Leinster) for D'Arcy (26 mins), J Heaslip (Leinster) for Easterby (59 mins), B Jackman (Leinster) for Best (61 mins), M O'Driscoll (Munster) for O'Kelly (67 mins), T Buckley (Munster) for Hayes, P Stringer (Munster) for Reddan (both 74 mins). Not used: P Wallace (Ulster). Sinbinned: Easterby (49-59 mins).

ITALY: D Bortolussi (Montpellier); K Robertson (Viadana), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français), P Canavosio (Castres); A Masi (Biarritz), P Travagli (Parma); A Lo Cicero (Racing Paris), L Ghiraldini (Calvisano), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers); S Dellape (Biarritz), C Del Fava (Ulster); J Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français), S Parisse (Stade Français, capt). Replacements: E Galon (Parma) for Canavosio (24 mins), A Zanni (Calvisano) for Sole (half-time), C Festuccia (Racing Paris) for Ghiraldini, S Perugini (Toulouse) for Lo Cicero (both 55 mins), A Marcato (Treviso) for Bortolussi (71 mins), T Reato (Rovigo) for Del Fava (74 mins), L Cittadini (Calvisano) for Castrogiovanni (80 mins). Sinbinned: Dellape (30-40 mins).

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan(South Africa).