Six Nations: Ireland 26 Italy 16: Fittingly, the Azzurri players were the ones milking the applause of the largest, loudest 3,000-plus travelling band of Italians to visit the old ground long after the subdued Irish players had vacated the premises and the home support was quietly making off to warmer ones. Perhaps, like us, they felt guilty looking their Italian counterparts in the eye.
This was Italy's day in many respects, and it might have been to an even greater extent. In the heel of the hunt, it will go down as yet another defeat for the Italians, their 28th in 31 Six Nations matches, and thus will no doubt be buried amid small forests of Serie A coverage.
They are unrecognisable from the one-dimensional side Pierre Berbizier inherited from John Kirwan and they deserved better, not least from English referee Dave Pearson, who hastily awarded Ireland two illegal tries and made several other decisions in favour of the home side.
Ireland managed the neat trick of looking stale, yet again, at the start of a new campaign. The plethora of handling errors and poorly executed basics may in part be attributed to opening-day rustiness but there was a general lack of direction and intensity, even from the outset.
As for the pluses, and there weren't many, Paul O'Connell worked hard for his yards, some of David Wallace's support play was good and Denis Leamy grew into the match, while Marcus Horan's footwork and Jerry Flannery's mobility and skills shone in the loose, most notably when picking up loose ball and cleverly linking with Wallace, and in turn Peter Stringer and Shane Horgan, in the build-up to the hooker's try.
Credit too, typically, to O'Connell's extended take on Fabio Ongaro's throw and to a one-man forklift by John Hayes, but no amount of video reruns can make the try legitimate. The ball clearly dropped to the ground from Flannery's arm before Ronan O'Gara almost apologetically touched it down. Had the TMO, Malcolm Changleng, been consulted, he could never have awarded it.
Moments before, a lovely, flat, right-to-left, double cut-out pass by O'Gara released Geordan Murphy outside the Italians' blitz defence. Murphy might arguably have passed a fraction sooner to Tommy Bowe, but if the pass had been in front of Bowe it would have been forward, the winger having almost overrun it. The thought occurred Denis Hickie would normally take those chances in his sleep. But perhaps we should simply acknowledge the great speed of Gonzalo Canale in tracking the pass by Murphy and Bowe to nail the winger into touch. Canale, with Mirco Bergamasco, had a fine game.
The latter would get his just reward when supporting a sweetly executed show-and-go - also something of a trademark - by the reborn Ramiro Pez, which completely bamboozled Gordon D'Arcy and Ronan O'Gara, to deservedly put them ahead on the half-hour mark.
You could tell from the opening exchanges Italy not only looked well drilled but also were a good deal more certain of what they were doing. Ireland went about it in reverse. From the outset, D'Arcy tapped a penalty in midfield, while O'Gara tapped a probable three-pointer in opting for a crosskick to Bowe. It was noticeable too, how much Irish players were looking to make offloads in the opening quarter - a policy that somehow seems at odds with this team, as if they're not being armed with this on the training ground, and almost as if they are taking the game plan into their own hands.
In any event, this "forcing of the pass" as coach Eddie O'Sullivan and skills coach Brian McLaughlin put it, was curtailed during the interval; thereafter Ireland played more territory, attempted fewer offloads and cut out the tap penalties. And, in their more convincing moments, through the efforts of the pack and the kicking of O'Gara and Brian O'Driscoll, kept their heads and cleared their lines well when under serious threat in the final quarter.
Italy seemed to surprise Ireland - despite plenty of reports they had adopted more of a balanced, running game under Berbizier - with a varied game that utilised their back line and the full width of the pitch.
The Azzurri were also afforded every encouragement by a drifting Irish defence that was so soft on the outside channels the Italians had plenty of space to run into. Indeed, the contrasting space in which the two back lines operated was one of the game's most indelible images.
Again, both O'Driscoll and O'Sullivan had warned that the Azzurri had adopted an aggressive, blitz defence under Berbizier. Yet Ireland seemed ill-prepared for it. O'Sullivan yesterday argued against the notion of playing with more depth, as this would leave the winger farther behind the gain line when the ball reached him.
There were a couple of decoy passes behind midfield runners as variation, and also a couple of crosskicks by O'Gara toward Bowe, one of which yielded a second Irish try as doubtful as the first while Italy were reduced to 14 men by the sinbinning of Pez for a late shoulder charge on D'Arcy in midfield. Again, at the very least, Pearson should have gone to the TMO, given Bowe was rolled by Mauro Bergamasco while trying to ground the ball.
Save for D'Arcy twice beating Pez one-on-one, the Irish midfielders regularly received man and ball together. The space in which O'Driscoll and D'Arcy operate with Leinster cannot be fully explained by the likes of Bath employing more of a drift defence. Granted Felipe Contepomi is more of an individual running threat than O'Gara, but he also attacks the gain line armed with other possibilities, such as blindside wingers or forwards on his inside. Not once could you recall Shane Horgan, of all people, being employed in this way. Nor could you recall O'Gara making the onrushing Italian midfield think twice with a grubber in behind.
Speaking of the underused Horgan, again not once did Ireland utilise his considerable height advantage with reverse kick-offs or restarts up the middle, but one has long since despaired of the lack of variety to Ireland's restart game.
But in this and in particular their running game - which revolves largely around getting the ball to O'Driscoll and D'Arcy in midfield - Ireland have become predictable. And if the Italians have noticed this, you can be sure others will too, starting with the French in Paris.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 13 mins: Pez pen 0-3; 26: Flannery try, O'Gara con 7-3; 30: Mirco Bergamasco try, Pez con 7-10; 40 (+2): O'Gara pen 10-10 (half-time 10-10); 45: Griffen pen 10-13; 48: Bowe try, O'Gara con 17-13; 60: O'Gara pen 20-13; 64: Pez pen 20-16; 70: O'Gara pen 23-16; 84: O'Gara pen 26-16.
IRELAND: G Murphy (Leicester), S Horgan (Leinster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G D'Arcy (Leinster), T Bowe (Ulster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster); M O'Kelly (Leinster), P O'Connell (Munster); S Easterby (Llanelli), D Wallace (Munster), D Leamy (Munster). Replacement: D O'Callaghan (Munster) for O'Kelly (64 mins).
ITALY: C Stoica (Montpellier); P Canavosio (Calvisano), G Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), L Nitoglia (Calvisano); R Pez (Perpignan), P Griffen (Calvisano); S Perugini (Calvisano), F Ongaro (Treviso), C Nieto (Viadana); S Dellape (Agen), M Bortolami (Narbonne, capt); J Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), S Parisse (Stade Francais). Replacements: C Del Fava (Bourgoin) for Bortolami (27-34 mins and 70 mins), A Persico (Agen) for Mauro Bergamasco (64 mins), M Castrogiovanni (Calvisano) for Nieto (71 mins). Sinbinned: Pez (39-49 mins).
Referee: Dave Pearson (England).
