Six Nations: Lions winger Shane Horgan admits the Italian blitz defence gave Ireland's vaunted backline a torrid time in their Six Nations opener at Lansdowne Road over the weekend.
The Irish threequarters had been hailed as the best in the tournament thanks to some swashbuckling performances by Leinster and Munster in recent Heineken Cup matches.
But the likes of Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy were tackled out of the game, with Ronan O'Gara's cross-field kicks the only effective way of breaching Italy's defence.
Ireland eventually triumphed 26-16 - but it was hardly the morale-boosting start required for Saturday's trip to the Stade de France.
Horgan said: "Italy delivered what we expected. It was a Six Nations opener, so it was nervy. We knew what to expect, but there's a difference between expecting it and dealing with it.
"The whole performance wasn't up to scratch, and I include my contribution in that. We tried a few things that just didn't come off. But Italy had a lot to do with that."
Horgan has taken comfort from Ireland's ability to clinch victory despite playing so badly but offered no excuses for a dismal first performance.
He said: "We've only been together a short time, but that didn't really have any effect. We had two weeks - which is often longer than we've had in the past. That wasn't a major issue.
"We just didn't fire as early in the game as we wanted to, and sometimes that sets you on a path you don't want to go down. We got to grips with it more in the second half. The fact that we did grind out a result when we didn't play so well is a positive."
Italy were still in the match until the last few minutes of normal time. But a missed penalty by Ramiro Pez and a successful one from O'Gara heralded the end of their brave challenge.
The ferocity of their tackling and desire to move the ball wide caused Eddie O'Sullivan's side plenty of problems - while up front they were typically robust.
Ireland were never able to seize control of the forward battle, and openside David Wallace - making only his second appearance in nearly two years - knows there must be a big improvement against France.
He said: "The intensity of that match was a step up from the Heineken Cup. I have to get used to that. It was a tough and uncompromising game.
"Italy closed down the space very well in the backs and made it hard for us to get good go-forward ball. But you have to play around that.
"We really needed the tries from Tommy Bowe and Jerry Flannery and could have done with a couple more. It was good that we kept our heads and were able to grind out the win.
"From a forwards point of view, there is a lot of hard work to be done between now and France. We need to look at our scrums and line-outs. There's room for improvement."
