Forgettable day at the office

IT’S a straight-out-of-the-book recipe for a very poor game of rugby when Grand Slam champions perform like wooden spooners and the opposition do likewise.

And that’s what the 77,786 supporters in Croke Park on Saturday had to endure as Ireland huffed and puffed their way to a 29-11 victory in the RBS Six Nations opener. The second-half surely qualified for a place among the worst 40 minutes in the history of international rugby.

Ireland and Italy did their best to kick the cover off the ball. That was bad enough in itself. To make matters worse, though, most of it was aimless and purposeless. More often than not, when they tried for touch, they missed. When they sought field position, much the same applied.

Ireland did manage two first-half tries and with Ronan O’Gara displaying pin-point accuracy in converting both and also landing four penalties for a personal contribution of 16 points, an upset was never on the cards. But it was brutal stuff for the most part and unless there is massive improvement in the Stade de France on Saturday, there is no way Ireland will improve on their dismal record in the French capital.

In several ways, the game didn’t even pan out in the way most had expected. The Italians never enjoyed the type of advantage at scrum time that has become their stock in trade and the manner in which John Hayes, Jerry Flannery (and later Rory Best) and Cian Healy coped with Salvatore Perugini, Leonardo Ghiraldini and Martin Castrogiovanni was one of the few positives in the game for coach Declan Kidney.

“It just goes to show what can happen when the whole eight forwards scrummage,” he commented laconically as if to underline, quite rightly, that there’s most to this aspect of the game than the rival front-rows.

If the scrum held its end up well, the line-out enjoyed a field day with Leo Cullen, Paul O’Connell, Kevin McLaughlin and Jamie Heaslip combining to pilfer eight of Italy’s 15 throws. True, they were much helped in this regard by the lamentable efforts of Ghiraldini to find his jumpers. How he managed to send a delivery over a shortened line-out and straight into the arms of the unmarked Cullen in the lead-up to Tomás O’Leary’s first try for his country was astonishing. It was something of which a 10 year-old would be embarrassed and it was little wonder that Italian coach Nick Mallett fingered the line-out as the major cause of his team’s downfall.

O’Leary wasn’t complaining. He showed typical speed of thought, strength and skill in fending off a defender to make the line. It was a soft score for all that but the first finished off by Heaslip was a beauty and owed everything to the kind of sublime pass that has been a hallmark of O’Gara’s game throughout his career. It sent Andrew Trimble racing clear down the left wing before he found O’Connell who in turn linked with O’Driscoll and later David Wallace who laid the score on a plate for the number eight.

The two tries and O’Gara’s goal kicks sent Ireland into a 23-3 lead after 32 minutes and the floodgates seemed ready to open. However, there was a signal that it might not come to pass on the stroke of half time when Rob Kearney fatally delayed a clearance which was blocked down by Kaine Robertson who was left with a simple task in scoring.

The only talking points of the second half that amounted to anything were the injuries to Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara, both replaced as precautionary measures to protect the knocks they had taken to the eye and knee respectively. Kidney’s confidence that they would be fit for Paris was reassuring and he also hinted that Donncha O’Callaghan also has a good chance of making it. The indications, however, are that Stephen Ferris has little chance of recovering from his knee injury.

Regardless of Jonny Sexton’s availability, the much hyped out-half issue is dead, at least for the time being.

O’Gara was polished and constructive in almost everything he did and it was just as well. Most of those around him struggled more than a little and Kearney’s gaffe in conceding the soft Italian try seemed to shake his confidence in a miserable second half.

If O’Gara was the shining light among the Irish backs, then David Wallace again stood out up front. If anything, his strength in the contact area and his ball carrying are growing greater with every game although to give the Italian defence due credit, they fully justified the plaudits later accorded them by coach Nick Mallett.

A win is a win, as they say, and doubtless there’s a small bit of Declan Kidney pleased that the performance was so low key. If there was any danger of complacency or a greater degree of expectation creeping into the players and fans, such emotions would surely have been dispelled by what transpired at Croke Park on Saturday.

Ireland scorers – Tries: J. Heaslip, T. O’Leary; Pens: R. O’Gara 4, P. Wallace. Cons: R O’Gara 2.

Italy scorers – Try: K. Robertson: Pens: Mirco Bergamasco, C Gower.

IRELAND: R. Kearney; T. Bowe, B. O’Driscoll capt, G. D’Arcy, A. Trimble; R. O’Gara, T. O’Leary; C. Healy, J. Flannery, J. Hayes, P. O’Connell, L. Cullen, K. McLaughlin, D. Wallace, J. Heaslip.

Replacements: R. Best for Flannery (53); K. Earls for Trimble (57); D. Ryan for O’Connell (61); P. Wallace for O’Gara (70); S. O’Brien for D. Wallace (72); T. Court for Hayes (73); E. Reddan for O’Leary (73).

ITALY: L. McLean; K. Robertson, G. Canale, G. Garcia, Mirco Bergamasco; C. Gower, T. Tebaldi; S. Perugini, L. Ghiraldini, M. Castrogiovanni, C. Del Fava, Q. Geldenhuys, J. Sole, A. Zanni, Mauro Bergamasco.

Replacements: M. Bortolami for Dal Vava (49); M. Aguero for Castrogiovanni (55); A. Masi for Robertson (57); S. Picone and R. Bocchino for Tebaldi and Gower, both (65); F. Ongaro for Ghiraldini (72); Castrogiovanni for Perugini (78); Gower for Bocchino (80).

Referee – R. Poite (France).