Players are ‘a bit down in the mouth’, admits O’Sullivan

IRELAND coach Eddie O’Sullivan admitted on Saturday night that he and his players were “a bit down in the mouth” at finishing runners-up to France for the second successive year in the RBS Six Nations Championship in spite of racking up 51 points against Italy at the Stadio Flaminio.

In truth, though, they should not have been despondent. As the coach commented: “The boys gave everything in the tank and put up some great performances and scored some great tries.”

However, missing out on a championship on a three point difference is a heart-breaker, especially when the French were almost certainly awarded a try in Paris that wasn’t.

These things, though, tend to even themselves out. In Rome, South African referee Jonathan Kaplan failed to spot a pretty obvious forward scoring pass from Denis Hickie to Gordon D’Arcy before the latter went over for a try that sent Ireland in at half-time leading 20 points to 12. Up to then, the Azzurri were well in the game and asking serious questions of Ireland at the set pieces.

Italy don’t possess much in the way of reserves so when Mauro Bergamasco’s replacement, Mauricio Zaffiri, hobbled off after only a couple of minutes, they were badly stretched. They lost out-half Ramiro Pez, who had a superb opening forty minutes, to another injury at half time. It told in the second half when the Irish backs cut loose big time and brought their total of tries to eight.

Even that wasn’t enough to land the title and you must compliment the Italians for snatching two late tries which eventually cost Ireland the championship. The first was touched down by Marco Bartolami, a majestic second-row forward who demonstrated rare footballing instincts in plucking a high kick out of the air and diving past Hickie for a score reminiscent of that manufactured by Ronan O’Gara and finished off by Shane Horgan against England.

To their immense credit, Ireland hit back with Hickie’s second try to move 51-17 ahead. And it was then that many believed Ireland should have battened down the hatches. So Denis Leamy went for broke. He took a quick tap, the move broke down and instead it was the Italian full-back Roland de Marigny who snatched a try and to rub further salt in Irish wounds, substitute out-half Andrea Scanavacca converted from near the touchline.

A few hours later at the same point of the match in Paris, Irish Television Match official Simon McDowell awarded France an even more contentious try and Les Bleus were champions again by a mere three points. It was tough to take but O’Sullivan was philosophical: “I would have preferred not to have given away that try at the end but you must consider the situation we were in at that moment,” he pointed out. “We could have kicked it into touch if we knew what was needed. That would have killed the game and guaranteed us a win by 34 points. But that was a difficult decision. If we had gone out to protect a lead, we wouldn’t have ended up with eight tries so I can’t complain. I would certainly have settled for this scoreline coming here.’’

Having called for Ireland to forsake the safety route and to “give it a lash” I’m not going to criticise Ireland for doing just that. Instead, the many thousands of men and women in the Eternal City on a glorious St Patrick’s Day should be rejoicing in those eight tries, two for the magnificent Denis Hickie and Girvan Dempsey, and one each for Simon Easterby, Gordon D’Arcy, Shane Horgan and Ronan O’Gara.

This was O’Gara’s fourth try in five matches and he has been nothing short of superb throughout. He took one incredible ball off his toes to help create D’Arcy’s try while his inside pass to make Dempsey’s first and twenty metre delivery to Hickie for his second were nothing short of sublime. How ironic, then, that a 50% success rate with his goal kicking was below O’Gara’s average throughout the campaign.

Once again, O’Sullivan hit the nail on the head: “Ronan has had a great Six Nations. There was a different ball today and it’s tough when you’re used to the Gilbert ball. His kicking off the ground has been excellent throughout the Six Nations and he’s kicked some really crunch goals for us so I’m not going to beat him up over missing a few conversions.”

Scorers: Ireland: R. O’Gara try, pen, 4 cons; G. Dempsey, D. Hickie 2 tries each; S. Easterby, G. D’Arcy, S. Horgan try each

IRELAND: G. Dempsey; S. Horgan, B. O’Driscoll, G. D’Arcy, D. Hickie; R. O’Gara, P. Stringer; M. Horan, R. Best, J. Hayes, D. O’Callaghan, M. O’Driscoll, S. Easterby, D. Wallace, D. Leamy.

Replacements: T. Hogan for M. O’Driscoll injured, 54. J. Flannery for Best 61; A. Trimble for B. O’Driscoll injured 61; S. Best for Horan 66; Horan for Best 78.

Italy scorers: M. Bartolami, R. De Marigny try each; R. Pez 2 pens, 2 drop goals; A. Scanavacca con.

ITALY: R. De Marigny; K. Robertson, E. Galon, M. Bergamasco, M. Pratichetti; R. Pez, A. Troncon; S. Perugini, C. Festuccia, C. Nieto, S. Delappe, M. Bartolami, A. Zanini, S. Parisse, M. Zaffiri.

Replacements, J. Sole for Zaffiri injured 2; A. Scanavacca for Pez injured half time; M. Barbini for Galon 64; F. Staibano for Perugini 53; V. Bernabo for Parrisse 67; P. Griffen for Troncon 80; L. Ghiraldini for Festuccia 80.

Referee: J. Kaplan (South Africa).