Irish victory secured in trench warfare
Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan described today’s 19-3 RBS 6 Nations victory over Italy as “trench warfare”.
O’Sullivan had been concerned that the predicted weather forecast would make life very difficult for his troops at Lansdowne Road and so it proved as strong winds and lashing rain took their toll on the match.
The conditions suited Italy’s forward-orientated game perfectly and the visitors threw down the gauntlet at the opening whistle when Roland de Marigny deliberately failed to hit his kick off 10 yards.
But Ireland’s pack did their job at the ensuing scrum and that set the tone for the conflict to come as they coped admirably with the Italian forward juggernaut – and even taught them a thing or two up-front.
“I knew the weather was going to be bad, but it was far worse than we expected. Walking around the pitch before the match was an incredible experience and we knew that passing was nearly impossible,” he said.
“We wanted to get the ball to the wings early but getting it beyond scrum-half was impossible. Battling away with Italy up front is not the best way to beat them but we did very well.
“They felt they could get us here and, although I don’t want to say the weather suited them, it did help them more than us. It meant trench warfare and that’s where this big Italy side are at their most dangerous.”
Tries from Malcolm O’Kelly and Brian O’Driscoll helped put Ireland 12-0 ahead at half-time, but a question mark remained over whether it would be enough given they had played with the wind at that backs.
Any doubts were swiftly erased, however, as they did a much better job of playing into the gale that swept through Lansdowne Road and even added a third try through winger Shane Horgan.
“We scored three and conceded none so I’m very pleased with the result and a professional performance from my boys. Mal plucking that try was just what we needed and then Brian settled our nerves with a brilliant solo score,” added O’Sullivan.
“The job wasn’t done at half time but Shane’s try was the winning of the game. We knew we had it then. This was a game that could have gone against us, so we ground out a good win in difficult conditions.”
There was one cloud on the horizon for O’Sullivan, however, after in-form openside Keith Gleeson left the field in the 63rd minute with a suspected broken arm; he will miss next weekend’s showdown with Scotland.
Italy coach John Kirwan felt his side had wasted the opportunity to record a famous victory at Lansdowne Road but was full of praise for a battling performance from the championship strugglers.
“At the end of the first half we thought we were going to win, but then their third try broke us a little bit. The players feel they’ve let a great opportunity slip through the fingers and that’s worse than losing,” he said.
“We’ve got to take the result on the chin, but I think we are making big strides forward and I’m very proud of my players. They kept trying and tackling right until the end.
“We’ve struggled with our attack but today we were much better in that department, we just didn’t make the most of the chances. That’s a big mistake against a side like Ireland.”
Kirwan refused to blame the weather for a match which was light on entertainment. He said: “The beauty of rugby is that sometimes you have to play on days like this. The weather was better for sailing but you have to play the conditions.”