Luck of the Irish for O’Sullivan’s men

Italy 17 Ireland 28

O'Sullivan and rival coach John Kirwan agree this will be the most competitive Six Nations Championship yet, and nothing so far has presented itself in rebuttal.

The sting in the tail for Ireland comes in the injuries suffered by Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy. Sleep hardly came easy to the Irish coach last night as he tossed and turned over the possible centre permutations for Scotland on Saturday any of which is unlikely to include the captain and his side-kick.

Italy pressurised Ireland into countless mistakes yesterday, and it took the blinding genius of O'Driscoll to shine a path to salvation. "We spent a lot of the first half on the back foot and took the foot off the pedal at times in the second period as well," said O'Sullivan.

"Italy are no longer the whipping boys of the tournament, they put a lot of pressure on us but the good thing was that we scored twice from just two attacks in the opening 40.

"We lived a bit dangerously at times but our ability to score at crucial stages was a positive. We figured it would take us a bit to wear Italy down it's getting longer and longer as the years go by but we eventually got on top of them and I was pleased with our ability to control the game when the scores came. The second half try from Peter Stringer was important but it was just a way of finishing what was a very good build up."

The Italians started as they finished and took the lead after six minutes when Luciano Orquera kicked a penalty after missing one a couple of minutes earlier. It was all Italy in the frenetic opening exchanges, Ireland not helped by Ronan O'Gara missing several kicks to touch. Geordan Murphy had the visiting fans holding their heads as he also missed a clearance.

Italy didn't capitalise, however; Orquera missed a penalty, while Andrea Masi and Mauro Bergamasco knocked on in promising situations.

After O'Gara had converted a penalty, Ireland finally struck the front with a brilliant try from Murphy after O'Driscoll did the hard work with a brilliant break. Referee Paddy O'Brien waited for judgement from the video referee, but the score stood. O'Gara had two chances to add the extra points after Italy charged conversion early but he shot right first and then left, both off target.

Italy, frustrated by Orquera's misses, gave the goal kicking duties to Roland De Marigny and the full back kicked a long-range penalty to narrow the gap to two points.

Three minutes into the second half, Marigny added another penalty to make it 9-8 and it didn't look good for Ireland.

But the tide turned again six minutes later when Stringer went over for Ireland's second try. O'Driscoll, Hickie and Shane Horgan (a wonderful over-head flip) combined before the scrum half skipped over for his fifth international try. O'Gara converted from wide out and kicked a subsequent penalty to stretch the lead to nine points.

There was no let-up, however. Marigny kicked a further penalty to cut the deficit to 18-12 and Ireland had to sweat through another video judgement when winger Ludovico Nitoglia got over the line only to lose possession in the act of touching down.

O'Gara settled Irish nerves three minutes from the end of normal time with a penalty and then Hickie was sent away for a try by Stringer and Horgan. The out half converted but Italy had a consolation score at the death when Leandro Castrogiovani ploughed through after a maul.

ITALY: R. De Marigny, Mirco Bergamasco, G. Canale, A. Masi, L. Nitoglia, L. Orquera, A. Troncon (Treviso); A. Lo Cicero, F. Ongaro, L. Castrogiovanni, S. Dellape, M. Bortolami (captain), A. Persico, S. Parisse, Mauro Bergamasco.

Replacements: C. Del Fava for Dellape (68), K. Robertson for Canale (75), D. Dal Mason for Parisse, S. Perugni for Lo Cicero, G. Intoppa for Ongaro (all 83).

IRELAND: G. Murphy (Leicester), S. Horgan (Leinster), B. O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), G. D'Arcy (Leinster), D. Hickie (Leinster), R. O'Gara (Munster), P. Stringer (Munster); R. Corrigan (Leinster), S. Byrne (Leinster), J. Hayes (Munster), M. O'Kelly (Leinster), P. O'Connell (Munster), S. Easterby (Llanelli), A. Foley (Munster), D. Leamy (Munster).

Replacements: M. Horan (Munster) for Corrigan (62), D. O'Callaghan (Munster) for O'Connell, F. Sheahan (Munster) for Byrne, E. Miller (Leinster) for Foley (all 79)

Att: 25,000

Referee: P. O'Brien (New Zealand)