On the ditch

Ireland went into this opening Six Nations match as favourites. Italy always play well in their opening match, but it was assumed by most that Ireland would simply have too much for them. And for many fans this match would be a chance for the Irish players to show that they have shaken off the RWC blues and give us a look at what we know they are capable of. For certain sections there was grumblings that perhaps it would be better were Ireland to lose and so give the IRFU an extra push into getting rid of O’Sullivan.

Ireland played their best rugby in the first half, but never really looked too impressive, they made line-breaks but failed to make them count on the scoreboard. As the match progressed however Ireland’s performance levels slipped and it seemed that many of the faults from the world cup were still in evidence. Luckily Ronan O’Gara was in much better form and kept control of the match. Scrum-half Reddan made plenty of breaks, but I felt that his passes weren’t as crisp as Stringer’s normally are.

And when Italy crossed over the line it made for a very tense final few minutes. In the end Ireland came away with the victory, but sadly the performance just poor.

Final Score: Ireland 16-11 Italy

Elsewhere on the web: Rory Best on the game ; All Smoke and Mirrors ; UnLaoised ; Hairyfish ; SportCrazy ; Casa Casey Courtney ;

Ireland Scores:
Try: Dempsey
Con: O’Gara
Pens: O’Gara 3

Italy Scores:
Try: Parisse
Pens: Bortolussi 2

Yellow card(s): Dellapé (Italy) - punching, 29; Easterby (Ireland) - playing the ball on the deck, 49

Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey, 14 Andrew Trimble, Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Geordan Murphy, 10 Ronan O’Gara, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 David Wallace, 6 Simon Easterby, 5 Malcolm O’Kelly, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Rory Best, 1 Marcus Horan
Replacements: 16 Bernard Jackman, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Mick O’Driscoll, 19 Jamie Heaslip, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Rob Kearney

Italy: 15 David Bortolussi, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Mirco Bergamasco, 11 Pablo Canavosio, 10 Andrea Masi, 9 Pietro Travagli, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 4 Santiago Dellapé, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero
Replacements: 16 Carlo Festuccia, 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 Tommaso Reato, 20 Alessandro Zanni, 21 Andrea Marcato, 22 Ezio Galon

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)

Tags: 6nations08, Eddie O'Sullivan, Eoin Reddan, Ireland V Italy, Ronan O'Gara, Six Nations