An analysis of the Ireland v Italy match

WHO THE COACHES SELECTED

Declan Kidney was without the injured Rob Kearney, Tommy Bowe, Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip. Luke Fitzgerald started at fullback, Fergus McFadden was on the right wing, while Denis Leamy and David Wallace were in the backrow with Seán O’Brien, the latter at number eight. Fitzgerald and Wallace are not in New Zealand, while scrumhalf Tomás O’Leary also didn’t travel to the World Cup. Italian captain Sergio Parisse was playing in his first Six Nations Championship match since 2009 having missed the entire campaign the previous year with a knee injury. Italian outhalf Kristopher Burton, flanker Josh Sole and secondrow Santiago Dellape didn’t make the Azzurri World Cup squad.

HOW THE MATCH UNFOLDED

Ronan O’Gara, who came on as a replacement, slotted a last-gasp drop goal to break Italian hearts at the Stadio Flaminio as Ireland eked out a 13-11 victory. Italy seemed on the cusp of their first ever Six Nations Championship win over the visitors when fullback Luke McLean dived over with six minutes remaining. It gave the home side an 11-10 lead, but Mirco Bergamasco missed the conversion and that proved costly as Ireland marched straight down the other end, providing O’Gara with the field position to rescue his team. Italy led 6-3 at the interval with two penalties from Bergamasco to one from Jonathan Sexton. Declan Kidney’s half-time team talk elicited a response just four minutes after the interval when, from a ruck close to the Italian line, Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll eased past Martin Castrogiovanni for a try. Sexton converted, but Ireland’s failure to take other chances left them susceptible to an Italian renaissance and a definitive one appeared to be McLean’s try before O’Gara’s late intervention.

LESSONS FOR ITALY

Nick Mallett believes his scrum will dominate Ireland and may point to the game in Rome to substantiate his claim. There was one point in the match when Ireland were shunted backwards and penalised, but he might care to omit the fact there were only five scrums in total in the match. He will demand that his team are aggressive at the breakdown, try and force the Irish to concede penalties at the scrum, maul from lineouts, play for territory and be aggressive in defence. One aspect of the Italians’ performance last February was the physicality of their defence at rucks and the line speed of

the backline. They’ll want to try and provoke another sloppy encounter, a quasi arm-wrestle. They’ll do everything to ensure the game isn’t played at a high tempo. Expect a solid kick/chase philosophy and a pressure game. They know Ireland shoulder the burden of expectation, a mantle their opponents wear with all the comfort of a hair shirt.

LESSONS FOR IRELAND

The primary one is they can not concede 13 penalties as they did in Rome, making 14 unforced errors and turning over the ball on four occasions to their opponents’ once. Ireland’s handling was sloppy on the day – though some credit must go to the Italian defence – and they butchered four or five generous try-scoring opportunities. Only Italy will benefit from a stop-start affair. This match provided a graphic illustration of the perils of not being able to produce precise patterns, underpinned by accuracy. Ireland need to put width and tempo on the game. They’ll need to get their big-ball carriers sucking in defenders and punching holes, their set-piece must be strong and, crucially, their back play will have to be fluent and well executed. The match in Rome could be a Sky documentary entitled, When Test Matches Go Wrong. They must absorb that lesson.