Thomond Park likely to heat up

Ireland v Italy: It was eerily quiet for a September rendezvous with Romania last season, the presence of the superior Italians and the onset of the World Cup should ensure Thomond Park is more like its customary self today.

A capacity Thomond crowd is more of a bear-pit than most stadiums, and certainly more so than the half-empty Lansdowne Road of a fortnight ago.

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan says the onus is first and foremost on the Irish team to give the 15,000 crowd something to cheer about. But given the 30-man World Cup squad announcement is only eight days away, and more players are probably on trial for their squad places here, there might even be a greater hunger within Irish jerseys as well as less rustiness than against the Welsh.

After all, look what England's second/third string side did to Wales's frontline XV in Cardiff last week. It could have been a 60-pointer. In waiting longer for their chance, all of the back five forwards must be feeling the heat, ditto the likes of Rob Henderson, John Kelly and Girvan Dempsey, not to mention today's bench-warmers.

Although Italy's is also an experimental selection with one eye on the World Cup, their untypically limp 47-15 defeat last week to Scotland has sharpened their shorter term focus. All week they've been licking their wounds.

There should be plenty for the crowd to get their teeth into. They harbour memories of injustices hereabouts more strongly than most and Steve Lander's error in failing to award John O'Neill a try in Munster's European Cup semi-final defeat to Stade Francais three seasons ago is almost etched as vividly in Munster folklore as their many memorable wins. It should ensure today's referee of an, eh, interesting reception.

Ireland are also committed to a more daring game in readiness for the harder, dryer tracks in Australia, witness the attempt to offload more before or in the tackle against Wales. But the age-old concepts of solid setpieces, a good kicking game and sound defence remain bedrocks, and first they've identified the need to control their own ball, impose their own rhythm on the game, and only then can they flourish individually.

Although only Brian O'Driscoll and David Humphreys remain from the side that eventually subdued Wales a fortnight ago, Eddie O'Sullivan is anticipating an improvement.

"Most of the lads have had a game under their belts by now, and that should tighten things up. There should be fewer unforced errors. But again there's a lot of pressure on them. For some of them, this might be their only shot at playing for Ireland before the World Cup."

Theoretically, with so many players eager to make an impression, it could also affect the team's cohesion. "Yeah, we've put a lot of emphasis on performing their roles well, that's the key thing. But no matter what I say, they're all going to feel under pressure to do well and I think that tension might cause some errors. But we have to see the bigger picture and I know there'll be no lack of effort, that's for sure."

After two slightly unnerving weeks which saw him withdraw from Ireland and Leinster's opening games of the season with a recurring calf problem, O'Sullivan was relieved that Victor Costello came though without any reaction when resuming training in the last two days.

The Italians have been obliged to withdraw centre Giovani Raineri, prompting a recall for the even more familiar, 50-times capped Cristian Stoica, with Andrea Masi promoted to the bench. O'Sullivan is particularly struck by Italy's selection up front. A grizzled lot, with over 150 caps between them.

For sheer physicality, O'Sullivan reckons that the Azzurri were second only to England in last season's Six Nations, and because of last week's performance in Murrayfield the Italians are likely to be truer to type today.

The Irish coach also makes allowance for Italy conceding 17 points while one of their players was sinbinned as well as an injury-time try in painting a misleading picture of that game. But their coach, John Kirwan, responded by saying: "There's a word in Italian called 'alibi', which is to make excuses, and we don't have them in this team. So there are no excuses for last week."

A return to the bad old days in conceding 19 penalties, which previously have been averaging under 10 per game, was endemic of a distracted and disjointed display.

"We let ourselves down as a team last week and I take my responsibility as well for that," admitted Kirwan. "It's important that we put on a very proud performance in this game. We got caught in the trap of not preparing mentally for a test match. The Scottish caught us on the hop. We didn't do ourselves or the jersey any good at all. This week we've been working on preparing properly and playing a good game of football."

Kirwan is clearly looking forward to it. "This is rugby, they tell me. We're here," he says of today's city and venue, where the All Blacks famously floundered in 1978. "When you make the All Blacks at 18 you're taken into a room and slapped around the ears and told about it."

"Have I been to the graveyard?" he joked rhetorically yesterday. "No, I'll go tomorrow. Ask the 12 All Blacks who never played for the All Blacks again."

Previous meetings: 1988 Ireland 31 Italy 15; 1995 Italy 22 Ireland 12; 1997 Ireland 29 Italy 37; 1997 Italy 37 Ireland 22; 1999 Ireland 39 Italy 30; 2000 Ireland 60 Italy 13; 2001 Italy 22 Ireland 41; 2002 Ireland 32 Italy 17; 2003 Italy 13 Ireland 37.

Betting (Paddy Powers): Handicap odds (Italy +30pts) 10/11 Ireland; 16/1 Draw; 10/11 Italy.

Forecast: Ireland to win.