Ireland were caught in a vortex of errors, pushed passes, handling mistakes, kicks that drifted too far and some questionable decision-making that jarred to the point where most of the Irish supporters that made the pilgrimage to the Olympic stadium in London were grateful for the final whistle.
There’s an argument that they just wanted an end to the visual spectacle as much as an outpouring of relief to having won the game. If Italy had a fully functioning lineout and a tad more self-belief then disappointment might have turned to despair from an Irish perspective.
One player who rose above the general torpor was Ireland's hooker Rory Best. On a day when others were sluggish there was a vibrancy and sharpness to the way that the Ulsterman performed, alert and decisive in his actions.
There was one moment when Paul O'Connell tapped back a re-start and Best snaffled the ball. Tommy Bowe had won the aerial battle two or three times previously but there was no one with Best's perspicacity to reclaim possession.
He carried aggressively but with intelligence, straightening the line and seeking out inside shoulders. At ruck-time he made a nuisance of himself, hovering above prone Italian figures and he often required two opposing players to remove him. Ireland’s lineout was once again pitch perfect.
In offering an overview of Ireland’s performance Best highlight the periodic lack of mental focus and physical application and aggression as characteristics that were lacking. “(We were) slow out of the blocks and there are a few aspects of that we need to improve.
“The preparation was good, Italy got off well but the lack of intensity for me was more just a constant throughout the game. At times we showed it, and then eased back off again. I don’t think we expect that to happen. It’s hard looking back at it but it kind of felt like they were waiting for someone to break free rather than grab it by the scruff of the neck ourselves.”
Victory allows a softer review and having escaped with the points and a route into the quarterfinals - the French game will decide which pathway - the hooker admitted that the team had received a reality check without the ultimate sanction of defeat.
“Every now and again I think it does no harm to be brought back down to earth and Italy definitely did that today. We know that when we get things right then we’re very good.
“When you don’t get things right at this level then really the gap isn’t a big one to bridge. Italy really put it up to us and put us under pressure. It’s hard when you concede penalties to get that intensity because the game becomes stop-start. “They put pressure on us which forced us into errors but others were unforced. We’ll look at those ones because it’s those that we can definitely rectify for next week. We know if we get that penalty count into single figures then we’re a very hard team to beat and we just didn’t do that. That’ll be one area we look at; there’s a few but that’s definitely one.”
Best conceded the physical nature of the game had left him score, the scrums and the breakdown producing particularly fierce collision points. He pointed out that while there were silver linings to some of the dark clouds performance wise, he also acknowledged that Ireland will have to deal with aggressive defences much better than they did at the Olympic stadium.
He was adamant though that the experience within the squad and the coaching set-up would allow Ireland to recalibrate ahead of next Sunday’s game against France at the Millennium stadium.
“There are a lot of players that are used to playing big games and big games back to back. For us, it’ll be, ‘let’s learn the lessons from this and make sure we’re better next week.
"We've a seven day turnaround to ramp things up and get things ready. We talked about this game being the start of a big build-up and the World Cup really starts now. We've got past this game; it's important we improve over the next two weeks if we want to do anything.
“We’ll regroup, taking a long, hard look at the match and then parking it; we’ll look at how we are going to beat France and how we are going to build on the performance. A couple of mistakes don’t make us a bad side. We are a tough side to beat when we get things right and that is the priority, controlling that we can do and being accurate.”
To broach the discrepancy in the quality of performance required to beat France from that which they produced at the Olympic stadium on Sunday, Ireland are going to have to work very hard indeed this week.
