Time to build on Scottish victory

All the indications are that, when Ireland and Italy meet at Lansdowne Road tomorrow in the Six Nations Championship, a crowd in the region of 40,000, maybe more, will be present to see this, the first meeting of the countries in the Championship. It is an illustration of how events can change public perception so quickly with regard to international rugby, indeed international sport.

Last October, after both Ireland and Italy departed the scene in the World Cup before the quarter-final stages, a match between the two countries in the Six Nations Championship scarcely looked a very appealing prospect.

Ireland's exit at the hands of Argentina was bad enough but for the Italians the World Cup had been an even bigger disaster.

Paired in a pool that included England, New Zealand and Tonga, the Italians failed to win a match. Not alone that but they lost 101-3 to New Zealand and 67-7 to England. They also lost to Tonga 28-25.

The danger cones for Italy had been hoisted when a matter of a few months before the World Cup, they lost 101-0 to South Africa.

All that had come after Italy had played so well against England in a World Cup qualifying match in Huddersfield and lost 23-15. The Italians had scored a try which was disallowed but a video play back subsequently proved it should have been allowed.

The fall out from the demolition job done by the Springboks in the summer was that the Italians' coach George Coste, was replaced. Coste had done so much to improve the team and under his guidance Italy recorded some very notable wins in recent years, including victories over Ireland and Scotland.

There is no doubt that Coste had been a very influential figure in lifting the Italian team to a point where they won admission to the Championship. Coste was replaced by his assistant Massimo Mascioletti.

The World Cup was a demoralising campaign for the Italians, who had also qualified for the three previous World Cup finals and had managed to win a match at the group stage in all three. What was especially disappointing for the Italians was that the 1999 World Cup results came just a matter of a few months before they were due to achieve their long-standing ambition of playing in what is now The Six Nations Championship.

With Coste gone before the World Cup final, Mascioletti lost out after the finals and the Italians turned to Brad Johnstone. Johnstone had coached Fiji for four years including the World Cup. By taking over the Italian team he took on a mighty task. Morale was low in the squad and Johnstone had to do a rebuilding job. Time had taken its toll on some of the most experienced players. Nor was it helpful to the Italian cause that some of their best players found foreign pastures more fertile. Ireland have long since realised the difficulties that can cause.

With the reigning Five Nations champions Scotland due as visitors in Italy's first match in the Championship, the general belief was that the Italians would do well to keep the score to respectable proportions. Italy could not have gone into their Championship debut against a more difficult background.

Johnstone's first task was to try and give his players back some self belief and also to impose discipline both on and off the field. He certainly brought about a remarkable transformation in a short space of time. The Italians caused one of the greatest upsets in the history of the Championship by beating the Scots. Suddenly new possibilities had opened up for the Italians and the Scots came to Dublin hoping to prove that their display and form in Italy was too bad to be true.

The afternoon of February 19th was to prove revealing.

Scotland came to Dublin and the good times rolled again for Ireland with a 44-22 win. That same afternoon the Italians were brought back down to earth in Cardiff when, what one Italian journalist described to me as, "reality replaced the euphoria" of a fortnight earlier. That came in the form of a 47-16 victory to Wales. Johnstone was not, after all, a miracle worker.

It is against that background then that Ireland will be seeking to win back to back matches in the Championship. That has not been achieved since 1993.

Ireland's win over Scotland has opened up a very good prospect that this can be attained now seven years on.

The victory over the Scots and the manner of its attainment has lifted the gloom that prevailed after the World Cup and the concession of 50 points to England. The newly constructed Ireland side not alone crashed the psychological barrier of beating Scotland but will go into the match with the confidence that the win should have instilled.

Now where there was apprehension and pessimism, there will be expectation and optimism. But it will need to be a cautious optimism. There is certainly no room for the slightest element of complacency.

The win over Scotland must be seen and kept in context as a step in the right direction. A win over Italy would be another.

At this stage in the development of the Ireland team it is no more than that.

Too often in the past, Irish teams have not been comfortable going into matches as favourites and have failed to justify the rating. This time they must and should be able to build on what was attained against Scotland. Furthermore Ireland has reason to treat the Italians with respect and caution.

In the five meetings between the countries to date - and three were on Irish soil - the score stands at 3-2 to Italy. Ireland won the most recent match in Dublin last April 39-30, but not without some anxiety after Ireland had looked to be cruising to victory.

Then there is the Italian outhalf Diego Dominguez. He has inflicted some damage on Irish teams in the past. The Irish players will know what is expected of them tomorrow, this is a fine chance to deliver on that expectation.