ITALY 9 IRELAND 38:IN THE end, it followed a fairly dog-eared script. The Azzurri, as ever, gave the men in green a fair old bruising before their efforts subsided and Ireland showed their class to pull away far more comfortably than had looked likely in a wildly ill-disciplined first half.
At that point there had been three men in the bin and the penalty count was 12-7 to Ireland, ultimately finishing 18-12. Yet it wasn’t particularly dirty, just that such was the Italians’ fire and fury that they conceded penalties with impunity, particularly at the breakdown.
Ireland struggled to establish any sort of rhythm or control as Italy’s rush defence forced spillages and turnovers from attempted offloads. Ireland regrouped before the break though, with both sides down to 14 men, and painstakingly went through three minutes and 19 phases of ball retention to regain the lead for the second time in the match. They never had to do so again.
Stephen Ferris, whose barnstorming physicality had proved more than a match for the hosts, was the instigator-in-chief of that try. Credit for subduing Italy goes firstly to the pack, where Paul O’Connell took on a mountain of work, and with the strong running of Rob Kearney, roving intelligence of Tommy Bowe and dynamic pace of Luke Fitzgerald coming more into play, there were also some exquisite moments from Brian O’Driscoll.
Chris White soon established his rule over the game. After Tommy Bowe’s strong chase and hit on Sergio Parisse, from Tomás O’Leary’s excellent box kick, encouraged the Irish backs to give the ball some air and width, Rob Kearney was nearly beheaded by Andrea Masi.
However, in the next two minutes Ireland conceded as many full penalties (two) as they had in 80 minutes the previous week. Jerry Flannery and Donncha O’Callaghan were rightly penalised for not staying on their feet when John Hayes picked and went but, more to the point, given the extra man, opting for pick and go looked a curious choice of tactic.
Penalties at 40 to 45 metres into the breeze were beyond Ronan O’Gara’s range and he missed a penalty to touch before another, easily won by David Wallace at the tail, was picked off by Sergio Parisse. With David Wallace pinged for not rolling away and O’Callaghan playing the ball from an offside position, the Azzurri were given the further encouragement of two Luke McLean penalties either side of Masi returning.
Ireland, unsure of themselves, needed something out of the blue and Bowe provided it. Picked off a flick-on by Mirco Bergamasco, he broke Griffen’s tackle and stayed just out of reach of all chasers in a 60-metre dash to the line. O’Gara tapped over the conversion.
McLean nudged Italy back in front after a high tackle by O’Callaghan on Fabio Ongaro and, though Italy were now being penalised at virtually every breakdown, O’Gara was rightly binned for tugging back Gonzalo Canale after the centre blocked down his kick.
Relief came by way of McLean missing his easiest of four kicks and a searing break out by O’Leary. Paddy Wallace had to make way for a blood injury which may have turned out to be a blessing. With Peter Stringer in at scrum-half, O’Leary playing at outhalf and no goalkicker, twice O’Driscoll opted to go to the corner. It yielded an immediate reward when repeat barging through at line-outs led to Salvatore Perguini being binned.
Back Ireland came to the corner for another sequence of rumbles off O’Connell’s take. For many of the intervening 19 phases Ireland went backwards in the face of fierce Italian defending; O’Driscoll juggling with a hospital pass to keep the move alive.
Stringer remained calm at the base however and it was the magnificent Ferris who came up with the back play, steaming onto the ball and calling for Stringer’s delayed pop to break Paul Griffen’s tackle and free his hands for an offload to Luke Fitzgerald, who ran an alert support trailer. Kearney knocked over the routine conversion from in front of the posts for the final play of the half.
It was a massive swing moment in the match, worthy of more than a mere seven points. It also underlined the virtues of patience and control. O’Gara twice kicked with accuracy to the corner and though the Italian line-out held firm, O’Driscoll danced in midfield and freed his hands for Jamie Heaslip to make a huge rumble to within a couple of metres of the line before he was brilliantly hauled down by Pratichetti. It merely delayed the inevitable though.
With Gonzalo Canale down injured, Donnacha O’Callaghan, Tommy Bowe and Heaslip all set up ruck ball before Wallace broke the tackles of Carlo Festuccia, Tommaso Reato and Matteo Pratichetti to score. O’Gara converted.
Italy were beginning to unravel now amid a surfeit of replacements and Ireland cut loose for a late double whammy. First Luke Fitzgerald exchanged a quick throw with Gordon D’Arcy to sprint over from 40 metres out and then O’Driscoll picked off an ambitious skip pass by Andrea Masi to run in another intercept try, O’Gara converting both.
SCORING SEQUENCE:4 mins: McLean pen 3-0; 16 McLean pen 6-0; 18 Bowe try, O'Gara con 6-7; 24 McLean pen 9-7; 40 Fitzgerald try, Kearney con 9-14; (half-time 9-14); 46 D Wallace try, O'Gara con 9-21; 50 O'Gara pen 9-24; 76 Fitzgerald try, O'Gara con 9-31; 78 O'Driscoll try, O'Gara con 9-38.
ITALY:A Masi (Biarritz); K Robertson (Viadana), G Canale (Clermont- Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais), M Preatichetti (Calvisano); L McLean (Calvisano), P Griffen (Colomiers); S Perugini (Toulouse), F Ongaro (Saracens), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), S Dellape (Toulon), T Reato (Rovigo), A Zanni (Calvisano), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), S Parisse (Stade Francais, capt). Replacements: A Bacchetti (Rovigo) for Robertson (19 mins), C Nieto (Gloucester) for Castrogiovanni (33 mins), C Festuccia (Racing Metro Paris) for Ongaro (42 mins), G Garcia (Calvisano) for Canale (48 mins), C del Fava (Ulster) for Dellape, J Sole (Viadana) for Reato (both 49 mins), Castrogiovanni for Perugini (58 mins), G Toniolatti (Capitalina) for McLean (72 mins). Sinbinned: Masi (2-12 mins), Perugini (36-46 mins).
IRELAND:R Kearney (Leinster); T Bowe (Ospreys), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, captain), P Wallace (Ulster), L Fitzgerald (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), T O'Leary (Munster); M Horan (Munster), J Flannery (Munster), J Hayes (Munster), D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster), S Ferris (Ulster), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: P Stringer (Munster) for P Wallace (34 mins to half-time) and for O'Leary (72 mins), G D'Arcy (Leinster) for P Wallace (half-time), T Court (Ulster) for Horan (55 mins), R Best (Ulster) for Flannery (59 mins), D Leamy (Munster) for Ferris (63 mins), Ferris for Heaslip, G Murphy (Leicester) for Kearney (both 75 mins), M O'Kelly (Leinster) for O'Connell (76 mins). Sinbinned: O'Gara (31-41 mins).
Referee:Chris White (England).
Attendance:30,000
Tries: T Bowe, L Fitzgerald (2), D Wallace, B O'Driscoll Cons: R O'Gara (4), R Kearney Pens: R O'Gara
