Ireland scrape past Italy

Ireland got their RBS Six Nations campaign off to a winning start, but only just as they held on to beat Italy 16-11 at Croke Park.

Wanting to put a forgettable World Cup behind them with a polished display, Ireland were on the front foot for much of the first-half and were rewarded by a well-worked try from Girvan Dempsey.

However, they were unable to push on in the second half and were grateful to the boot of Ronan O'Gara to keep them in command of proceedings.

Italy skipper Sergio Parisse powered over from close range on the hour for a try which brought Italy right back into proceedings and ultimately Ireland were forced to hang for victory.

Hang on they did, but the muted reception they received from their own fans at the final whistle told much of the hard work that lies ahead for Eddie O'Sullivan and his team.

Dublin fought off the sleet and snow as ideal rugby conditions greeted both sides in the Six Nations opener.

Both nations had a point to prove with the hosts bidding to avenge their woeful World Cup showing, and Italy looking to give new coach Nick Mallet the perfect start in his first game in charge.

Sublime

Ireland enjoyed the majority of the early possession with the boot of O'Gara finding good touch on numerous occasions to put pressure on the Azzurri line-out.

With 10 minutes on the clock Brian O'Driscoll introduced himself to the tournament with a sublime piece of individual skill.

The Leinster centre's deft chip over a static Italian defence was collected by Andrew Trimble, but the Ulster man was held up just short of the Italy line.

Just a minute later and O'Gara, and Ireland, were underway. Peter Travagli was guilty of putting his boot in the ruck and the Munster man made no mistake from close range.

Ireland's fly-half was beginning to take the game by the scruff of the neck in what were becoming testing times for the visitors.

His cross-field kick picked out Geordan Murphy on the wing who beat his man, but as he attempted to slip Dempsey through for an inevitable score his pass was poor and the chance subsided.

It was a big let-off for Italy but the hosts soon made them pay. It was O'Gara again who was pivotal in the move which saw his precise switch-kick find Trimble - the Ulster wing cut inside and fed Dempsey who dived over for a sublime Irish score.

O'Gara converted from a difficult angle to give Ireland a 10-0 lead with 20 minutes played.

The hosts then suffered a cruel blow on 25 minutes as Gordon D'Arcy was forced to leave the field after he sustained an impact injury following a meaty collision.

Italy began to lose their cool under the onslaught, and Santiago Dellape failed to help matters when he was caught throwing punches in a maul, and as a result served ten minutes in the bin.

O'Sullivan's men failed to capitalise on the one-man advantage and it was Italy who registered the next score as Ireland were caught offside and Bortolussi converted.

Ireland emerged after the interval eager to add to their 10-3 lead, and Eoin Reddan epitomised this intent with a couple of defence splitting runs.

Rampaging

However, Ireland failed to kill the game off after gaining good territory and all of a sudden the momentum shifted when flanker Simon Easterby was sin-binned for blatantly ripping the ball away.

Despite the one-man disadvantage Ireland were spurred on by the rampaging Reddan. The London Wasps man broke the Italian line, and after O'Gara's deft kick pierced the static Azzurri line O'Driscoll collected the ball and won a penalty under the posts.

O'Gara comfortably converted, and at 13-3 Ireland were looking comfortable.

However, the 'never say die' attitude of Italy was soon rewarded courtesy of newly-appointed skipper Parisse.

Amongst a mass of bodies the Italian flanker was adjudged to have grounded the ball despite the unconvincing footage at the television referees disposal.

Bortolussi missed the resulting conversion, but at 13-8 Italy were well and truly back in the contest.

O'Gara and Borolussi then exchanged penalties, but despite the late Azzurri siege on the Irish line the hosts held on for an unconvincing, yet vital two-points.