The Italian Job Part 2: Italy 11 Ireland 13

—

by

John McMurtry

This really was a smash and grab raid as Ireland zoomed off into the Rome sunset in their green, white and orange minis leaving a heartbroken Italy in their wake! A last minute drop kick  from stole victory from the Italians giving Ireland a somewhat undeserved win by 11 – 13.

Ireland struggled to find any form against a gritty Italian side with the hosts taking a deserved 6 – 3 lead into the break thanks to two penalties from with replying with one for Ireland.

With Ireland under intense pressure in the scrum it was down to captain courageous to score from close range just after the re-start. Sexton added the conversion and with Ireland leading 6 – 10 the visitors were expected to kick on.

Ireland had a few chances but poor handling in the centre, with O’Drsicoll and both at fault, let them down on several occasions and with in particular, struggling  in the front row, the Italians worked their way back into the game.

With seven minutes to go, and Ireland under pressure, was carded for continual offences and the Italians sniffed their chance. After a period of sustained pressure the home side worked space on the right and crossed in the 75th minute to gave Italy a deserved lead.

Ireland finally found some continuity and, after a series of phases, replacement out-half Ronan O’Gara slotted the decisive drop goal with just two minutes to go.

Italy had a chance to snatch back the victory but, unfortunately for the home side, McLean’s last gasp attempt at a drop fell short. cleared with the last kick of the game to give Ireland their win.

Probably the less said about this match the better! Next up France. Oh dear!

Italy: McLean, Masi, Canale, Sgarbi, Mirco Bergamasco, Burton, Gori, Perugini, Ghiraldini, Castrogiovanni, Dellape, Geldenhuys, Sole, Zanni, Parisse, Garcia, Orquera, Canavosio, Lo Cicero, Ongaro, Del Fava, Bernabo.

Ireland: Fitzgerald, McFadden, O’Driscoll, D’Arcy, Earls, Sexton, O’Leary, Healy, Best, Ross, O’Callaghan, O’Connell, Leamy, D Wallace, O’Brien, P Wallace, O’Gara, Reddan, Court, Cronin, Cullen.

2 responses to “The Italian Job Part 2: Italy 11 Ireland 13”

  1. johnny king

    Ireland were very one-dimensional. Give the ball to Wallace or Leamy or O’Brien and run at them seemed to be the only tactic. Even with a back row of Ferris, Heaslip and O’Brien you would be looking at much the same game-plan I reckon. PO’C is not match fit. Wallace probably is past it. D’Arcy should have been hauled off and replaced by Paddy much earlier. Would’ve had Stringer, Boss and Reddan at 9 ahead of O’Leary. Then again, three scrum halfs might have got in each other’s way…

    Reply
  2. the mote

    this was a game that Ireland should have won before half time and could have but for —-

    The questions the game poses are

    Did the backline malfunction because of

    (a) O’learys slow pass from the base of the ruck etc ?

    or

    (b) the failure of Sexton to stand further back and force the remaining backs to go deeper

    2 Was the Irish scrum as bad as the penalties ? given my own conclusion is that the Italian props were boring in and failed to get penalised for the offence ?

    3 Is PoC unfit or overthe hill ?

    4 Is Wallace worthy of his place and a last Hurrah swansong World Cup ?

    I would expect a few changes next week Duffy to full back Fitzgerald to the wing

    And MoD to the bench for Cullen my view being that MoD was assigned to the Wolfhounds to provide experience and while he may not be the better line out ball winner he is better at disrupting the opposition lineout and gives more body to scrum ruck and maul than Cullen

    Reply

Corrections, comments or questions?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

IF in Doubt, sit them out

Download the UK Concussion Guidelines for Grassroots Sport Here