Italy put to sword by Irish defence

THE Six Nations Championship title may out of reach but Ireland did enough to suggest they will win another Triple Crown in 2004 after putting Italy to the sword.

Ireland 19 Italy 3

Ireland had all the territory and most of the possession but it took an opportunist try from Malcolm O'Kelly to break the deadlock in the 26th minute. A brilliant second score six minutes later from Brian O'Driscoll, and the subsequent conversion by Ronan O'Gara, settled the nerves.

After that, everything Ireland undertook had a professional feel to it.

Of course, Ireland really only have a very slim chance of taking championship honours. They have to rely on England beating France and back themselves to pile on the points against Scotland.

O'Sullivan, of course, is not even thinking about that. Before Saturday's match he insisted he would have been happy with a single point victory.

"We did much better than that and we might have scored a lot more but for the impossible conditions. It was very hard to move possession around the pitch. Long passes were a liability in the first half so we really just couldn't carry out our game plan. In the circumstances I thought we did well."

He was particularly pleased with the second-half. "We struggled to put the points on the board before the break and while we felt 12 points wasn't a great return, the lads knuckled down to their task after the break.

"Our defence was pretty aggressive and we kept their scoring opportunities to a minimum. The third try from Shane (Horgan) early in the second half was fairly crucial but it was well worked after a spell of pressure."

O'Kelly, equalling Willie John McBride's record of 63 caps for a second row, was naturally enough delighted to have marked the occasion with a try. "It was their throw but I realised their hooker was about change his style. He threw it under-arm and the receiver didn't react. I grabbed the ball and knew straight away that I could score.

"It was a relief more than joy because we should have been well ahead at that stage. I didn't think about myself, about what it meant. It was all about the team."

O'Kelly does believe Ireland can go on to emulate the achievement of the 1982 and 1985 teams and put Ireland into the record books yet again.

"We had a bad start against France, great victories over Wales, England and now Italy, but we have to keep everything in perspective. We've got to give Scotland the respect they deserve.

"Matt Williams will be returning to Ireland looking for a scalp. I've worked with the guy in the past and know that he is a very capable coach. We cannot take anything for granted."

The match statistics showed Anthony Foley and O'Kelly as the top ball carriers and significantly, four Italians as both the top tacklers and those with the most misses in the tackle. That tells its own story.

It suggested that Ireland had most of the play, most of the territory and that was the case. What the stats did not reveal is the fact that Ireland defended in heroic fashion when it was most required - underlined by three thundering tackles from John Hayes in the 14th, 29th and 60th minutes.

IRELAND: G. Dempsey (Terenure), S. Horgan (Lansdowne), G. D'Arcy (Lansdowne), B. O'Driscoll (Blackrock), G. Murphy (Leicester), R. O'Gara (Cork Constitution), P. Stringer (Shannon), R. Corrigan (Greystones), S. Byrne (Blackrock), J. Hayes (Shannon), D. O'Callaghan (Cork Constitution), M. O'Kelly (Blackrock), S. Easterby (Llanelli), A. Foley (Shannon), K. Gleeson (St. Mary's).

Replacements: V. Costello for Gleeson (60, injured), M. Horan for Corrigan (65), K. Maggs for D'Arcy (injured, 75), G. Easterby for Stringer, D. Humphreys for O'Gara (both 77), F. Sheahan for Byrne, G. Longwell for O'Callaghan (both 79).

ITALY: G. Canale (Treviso), N. Mazzucato (Calvisano), C. Stoica (Montpellier), M. Barbini (Padova), D. Dallan (Treviso), R. De Marigny (Parma), P. Griffen (Calvisano), D. Lo Cicero (Lazio), F. Ongaro (Treviso), L. Castrogiovanni (Calvisano), M. Bortolami (Padova), C. Checchinato (Treviso), A. De Rossi (captain, Calvisano), S. Palmer (Treviso), A. Persico (Leeds).

Replacements: S. Dellape for Barbini, A Masi for Checchinato (both 54), M. Bergamasco for Canale (64), S. Perguni for Lo Cicero (79).

Referee: K. Deaker (New Zealand).