Early jitters, but class wins out

It had its ridiculous moments as well as its sublime ones, and Ireland would certainly have had a bigger hill to climb had Diego Dominguez been playing, but they got there in the end and scored some nice tries in the process. Ireland will play better and lose, but to beat the Italians when in Rome was the primary point of the exercise.

Ireland did so emphatically in the end, albeit after a scrappy first period after which they were a mite fortunate to have a 19-15 lead. There was a good team trying to break out in the first half, only to be ensnared by a dogged, in-your-face Azzurri and their own apprehension. When the visitors did break out in the second period though, there was a clear class divide. Better perhaps, in hindsight, to have had this match first up.

Quite why the first-half performance was so dishevelled and unfocused, even prompting assistant coach Eddie O'Sullivan to draw comparisons with that World Cup nadir against Argentina in Lens, is difficult to pinpoint.

In the end it pretty much panned out as expected, with Ireland having to withstand a spirited opening half hour or so before gradually taking the sting out of the game, keeping their heads and their discipline before applying their high-tempo game. Predictably, the Italians couldn't live with that.

There were a few trump cards too. Rob Henderson, as he did when an impact substitute in this fixture last season, exposed a soft underbelly in the Italian midfield defence, and ran in his first international hat-trick, indeed scoring more in one afternoon than he had done in his international career previously.

David Wallace had a fine championship debut, making a host of potent gallops in openfield. Alan Quinlan went well alongside him, Ronan O'Gara's classy running game, distribution and measured control grew stronger as the match wore on, and Girvan Dempsey silenced his critics.

During that awkward opening half hour, even without the guiding hand and accurate boot of Dominguez, the Azzurri were predictably full of enthusiasm. Alessandro Troncon assumed the tactical leadership by taking plenty of responsibility off the replacement for Dominguez, the inexperienced Ramiro Pez, with some clever box kicking and incisive quick taps and darts.

Ireland appeared edgy and error-prone, taking wrong decisions, failing to put away the final pass when they did make incisions, and conceding much of the territory with an over-cooked aerial bombardment of the solid Cristian Stoica.

Clearly overly conscious of the new refereeing diktats regarding the rucks, their rucking lacked oomph and gave scrumhalf Peter Stringer far too much slow ball. Ireland were also guilty of far too many missed first-up tackles or else making them on the back foot.

At 9-8 to Ireland, it probably wouldn't be stretching credibility to suggest it might have been 16-9 or 19-9 against them had Dominguez been on the pitch.

Approaching the interval Italy were hit with a double whammy. First Andrea Muraro was sinbinned at the behest of linesman Rob Dickson, seemingly for use of boot and fist. Quick line-out ball off the top from Malcolm O'Kelly saw O'Gara feed Henderson on the burst, and he crashed through Raineri and Martin and then veered outside Ezio Galon to pin his ears back and score in the corner.

O'Gara even managed the touchline conversion and added a penalty after a big break by Wallace. However, Ireland's concession of a try against 14 men deep into injury-time in the half was disappointing. Pez and Troncon took tackles to offload over the gain line and Carlo Checchinato was credited with a try from the ensuing forward rumble after recourse to a video replay. Pez's conversion left it 15-19 at the break.

However, Ireland bossed the second half and dominated it territorially. They deservedly extended their lead when Quinlan made a good steal inside halfway at a maul which Wallace carried on. From the recycle Stoica fumbled Keith Wood's grubber through and O'Kelly stood in at scrum-half to feed O'Gara who put the ball in front of Henderson, who crashed through two tackles and rounded the posts.

The Italians were resorting to rough stuff, particularly on Stringer, and Mauro Bergamasco's late hit on the scrum-half was so late all three officials missed it. In any event, Dempsey stepped out of the tackle in counter-attacking with a long pass to Henderson, Mike Mullins then releasing Tryone Howe for a classical winger's break up the touchline and chip ahead for Henderson to win the touchdown.

Stoica should have been binned for his unbelievably late charge on Howe and he was roundly booed thereafter by the Irish fans whenever he touched the ball.

An excellent passage of continuity culminated in Foley's surge and flicked pass to O'Gara, who threw a beauty out wide to Horgan for a fine try in the corner.

Though Peter Clohessy was binned for over-rigorous rucking - the officials having earlier penalised him for an off-the-ball tackle on Troncon - it was the Italians who fulfilled the cliche by losing their heads.

Troncon was rightly sent off for a wild, nasty punch to the head which pole-axed Stringer. His justification as he walked off without contrition, was to signal that his shirt was tugged, which took the biscuit.

Ireland's retort was arguably their best try and O'Gara's first for his country. Kevin Maggs took it up the middle, Wallace deftly moved it wide where Henderson looped around replacement David Humphreys and found O'Gara on his inside, the outhalf neatly stepping around one man to touch down. He's a class act alright.

Blatant consolation refereeing by Jonathan Kaplan, who had a good first half but by the end only had eyes for one team, predictably culminated in a consolation try off a wedge by Bergamasco which Pez converted.

Scoring sequence: 4 mins: O'Gara pen 03; 8 mins: Pilat pen 3-3; 11 mins: O'Gara 3-6; 26 mins: Pilat try 8-6; 31 mins: O'Gara pen 89; 39 mins: Henderson try, O'Gara con 8-16; 40 mins: Checcinato try, Pez con 15-19. Half- time: 15-19. 43 mins: Henderson try, O'Gara con 15-26; 55 mins: Henderson try 15-31; 65 mins: Horgan try 15-36; 79 mins: O'Gara try 15-41; 84 mins: Bergamasco try, Pez con 2241.

ITALY: C Stoica (Narbonne); C Pilat (Padova), L Martin (Northampton), G Raineri (Montferrand), D Dallan (Treviso); R Pez (Roma), A Troncon (Montferrand); A Lo Cic- ero (Roma), A Moscardi (Treviso, capt), A Muraro (Padova), W Viser (Treviso), C Checcinato (Treviso), C Caione (Roma), D Dal Maso (Rovigo), M Bergamasco (Treviso). Replacements - E Galon for Pilat (30 mins); G de Carli for Dal Maso (40-43); G Lanzi for Checcinato (72 mins).

IRELAND: G Dempsey (Terenure College); S Horgan (Lansdowne), M Mullins (Young Munster), R Henderson (Wasps), T Howe (Dungannon); R O'Gara (Cork Constitution), P Stringer (Shannon); P Clohessy (Young Munster), K Wood (Harlequins, capt), J Hayes (Shannon), M Galwey (Shannon), M O'Kelly (St Mary's College), A Quinlan (Shannon), A Foley (Shannon), D Wallace (Garryowen). Replacements - A Ward (Ballynahinch) for Foley (65 mins); J Davidson (Castres) for Galwey (65 mins); K Maggs (Bath) for Mullins (69 mins); E Byrne (St Mary's College) for Hayes (69 mins); D Humphreys (Dungannon) for Howe (72 mins); B O'Meara (Cork Constitution) for Stringer (77 mins); F Sheahan (Cork Constitution) for Wood (80 mins).