What had been billed as Ireland’s redemption song became a discordant, jumpy affair by the end of which coach Eddie O’Sullivan was relieved to avoid a first defeat to the Azzurri since 1997. Relieved, but hardly deaf to the faint but unmistakable boos that greeted Jonathan Kaplan’s final whistle.
Most attention will focus on the awful predictability of O’Sullivan’s multi-capped side, which looked hauntingly similar to the one which flopped at the World Cup a few months back. And this is unfair on Italy, who mixed muscularity with disruption but also played some enterprising rugby. The last part will be particularly pleasing to their new coach Nick Mallett, who had just 10 days of coaching contact with his charges – in such contrast to their opponents. Italy may not have enjoyed the dominance they would expect in the scrum, but in every other respect they were direct, at times painfully so.
Meanwhile, the disaster predicted for their new half-backs never happened. Andrea Masi may not have the kicking skills of Diego Dominguez but in general Italy’s midfield was the more potent. With a little more composure, especially in the first half, they might have produced more than the solitary try by their inspirational leader and lordly No 8, Sergio Parisse.
As for Ireland, in the spell immediately following Girvan Dempsey’s 18th-minute try, there was the unmistakable sense of a team about to break free from the shackles of doubt. It never happened, and it’s hard to see how they can travel to Paris next weekend with any genuine confidence.
The damning thing for their coach is that it was hard to pick out any Irish player who performed particularly badly. True, Brian O’Driscoll has lost the darting pace that scared defences for so long – and the loss of Gordon D’Arcy midway through the first half with a suspected broken wrist didn’t help their cause.
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But the pack showed up well enough in the scrums and recovered from a couple of early line-out jitters. Donncha O’Callaghan had another storming game and David Wallace carried powerfully at times. Most notably of all, Ireland finally have a scrum-half who can draw the attentions of opposing back rows. Eoin Reddan had a memorable afternoon, creating panic with three or four dazzling breaks. His brilliance should have made life easier for his outside backs, but they looked clueless once any pre-planned moves had broken down. They invariably took the ball flat and static, inviting some shuddering tackles by the Italians.
It says a lot about Ireland’s toothlessness that their most potent attacking weapon – apart from Reddan’s snipes and Wallace’s charges – was Ronan O’Gara’s cross-kicking for his wings, who enjoyed a couple of inches on their opposite numbers. It worked for one try and should have yielded at least one more, but is this what they have been reduced to?
Even then, it took them a few attempts to get it right – O’Gara’s first effort was horribly overcooked, while O’Driscoll was generally too keen to put foot to ball. At least O’Gara had the opportunity to kick them in front on 12 minutes with a penalty.
Geordan Murphy then sped on to an O’Gara pass off a scrum on Ireland’s 22. One ruck later, O’Gara’s cross-kick was perfectly weighted for Andrew Trimble, who gathered on the bounce and offloaded inside for Dempsey to score.
Just briefly, Ireland looked full of confidence, but even when Santiago Dellape was sin-binned for throwing a punch, David Bortolussi kicked a penalty to give Italy heart going into the second half.
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While O’Gara’s penalty took Ireland 10 points ahead in the 57th minute, they weren’t clear of danger. Far from it, as Ireland couldn’t prevent Parisse from being driven over in the right-hand corner.
Another superb charge by Wallace eked out a third penalty for O’Gara. But almost immediately, John Hayes offered up three points at the other end by diving in at the ruck. It was all set up for a late Italian smash-and-grab.
That never happened. Ireland played territory for most of the last 10 minutes and even though O’Gara was off target with a penalty attempt, their five-point advantage meant they could defend in the middle third of the pitch without worrying too much about giving up penalty opportunities. Still, it was an unedifying final scene – scrapping away in the middle of Croke Park as Italy went in search of one final heroic act. The opening never appeared but that didn’t stop them enjoying a mini-lap of honour afterwards while the Irish players waited dolefully to applaud their opponents near the tunnel.
Star man: Eoin Reddan (Ireland)
Ireland: G Dempsey (Leinster); A Trimble (Ulster), B O’Driscoll (capt, Leinster), G D’Arcy (Leinster, R Kearney (Leinster) 26min), G Murphy (Leicester); R O’Gara (Munster), E Reddan (Wasps, P Stringer (Munster) 74min); M Horan (Munster), R Best (Ulster, B Jackman (Leinster) 62min), J Hayes (Munster, T Buckley (Munster 72min), D O’Callaghan (Munster), M O’Kelly (Leinster, M O’Driscoll (Munster) 68min), S Easterby (Scarlets, J Heislip (Leinster) 62min), D Leamy (Munster), D Wallace (Munster).
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Italy: D Bortolussi (Montpellier, A Marcato (Treviso) 72min); K Robertson (Viadana), G Canale (Clermont Auvergne), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Français), P Canavosio (Castres, E Galon (Overmach Parma) 24min); A Masi (Biarritz), P Travagli (Overmach Parma); A Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro, C Festuccia (Racing-Metro) 55min), L Ghiraldini (Calvisano, S Perugini (Toulouse) 55min), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester, C Nieto (Gloucester) 80min), S Dellape (Biarritz), C Del Fava (Ulster, T Reato (Rovigo) 73min), J Sole (Viadana, A Zanni (Calvisano) ht), S Parisse (capt, Stade Français), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Français).
Yellow cards: Ireland: Easterby (48min)
Italy: Dellape (30min)