Ireland 16-11 Italy
Sat 2 February, 2008
Croke Park, Dublin

Croke Park was full to the rafters today with thousands of keen Irish men and women all hoping for an explosive start to their challenge for this year’s RBS Six Nations Championship. A small pocket of Italians made up the 76,000 capacity crowd in Dublin, but by the end of the afternoon neither set of supporters were left with much to sing about.

Game 1 of week 1 is traditionally a cagey encounter, but more so here because Ireland were facing the team that arguably snatched the title from their grasp on the final day of last year’s tournament.

The match began slowly and it was 9 minutes into the game before any form of attacking move was made by either side; Ireland running at the visitors in a cross-field charge. The large pitch – more suited to Gaelic football than rugby union – was proving difficult for the kickers to get a grasp of, but it was Ronan O’Gara who came to terms quickest when he kicked his opening penalty after 12 minutes to make it 3-0.

Ireland continued to break forward, but poor mistakes and missed passes prevented them from building up any form of lead in this lacklustre affair. Eventually a Try came their way in the form of Girvan Dempsey’s pick-up, after another long wide-right kick split left the Italians floundering. O’Gara converted, and suddenly Ireland were 10-0 up and looking good for the win.

Gordon D’arcy had to be replaced after 25 minutes after he accidentally left his arm in the way during a botched tackle, which allowed Rob Kearney to make his Six Nations debut.

Italy began to find heir way into the game more after the half hour mark when they started pressuring Ireland into making mistakes. They forced a line-out 10 metres out but it failed to materialise, and Dellape was sent to the sin-bin for punching. The Italians mounted forward though, and forced a penalty just before half time, which was kicked over by Bortolussi to make it 10-3 at the interval.

Ireland burst out of their ranks at the start of the second half and looked more promising, but then had Easterby side-lined for playing the ball after a tackle. Their confidence continued to drop when Italy scored from another penalty make it 10-6, but Ireland retaliated shortly after with one of their own.

At 13-3 and with twenty minutes to play, Ireland were beginning to show signs of the ghosts that haunted them in Rome last year, and a series of dreadful errors led to an Italian maul, which they managed roll over the line. The referee call for TV evidence to decide if there was any reason he shouldn’t award the Try, but there wasn’t. The resulting conversion was missed by Bortolussi though, which would have put them in a prime place to snatch the game.

Both sides took a penalty each in the final ten minutes, but it was Ireland who were under the pressure as the clock ticked down. With the score at 16-11 in their favour, and Italy within a Try for victory, the crowd grew very tense and quiet towards the end.

Italy charged forward in a last ditch attempt to take the game, but it was Ireland who held on in what was a most unconvincing display. They failed to set their stall out in the first championship match as they would have liked, although they will be delighted to get off to a winning start. Italy have played better, but on this display, look to be already heading for the Wooden Spoon.

Teams

Ireland
Dempsey, Trimble, B O’Driscoll (capt), D’Arcy, Murphy, O’Gara, Reddan; Horan, Best, Hayes, O’Callaghan, O’Kelly, Easterby, D Wallace, Leamy.

Replacements: Jackman, Buckley, M O’Driscoll, Heaslip, Stringer, P Wallace, Kearney.

Italy
Bortolussi, Robertson, Canale, Mi Bergamasco, Canavosio, Masi, Travagli; Lo Cicero, Ghiraldini, Castrogiovanni, Dellape, Del Fava, Sole, Ma Bergamasco, Parisse (capt).

Replacements: Festuccia, Perugini, Cittadini, Reato, Zanni, Marcato, Galon.

Statistics and Info

Ireland
Tries: 1
Pens: 3
Cons: 1

Italy
Tries: 1
Pens: 2
Cons: 0

Man of the Match: Eoin Reddan (IRE)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (SA)