Ireland Cut Loose In Rome

Six Nations Game 13 - Italy vs Ireland (24-51)

Italy stole Ireland's first lineout, but the next green throw-in was good. Then Italy turned over Irish ball, made a canter upfield but it went out into touch over the try line.

Soon after, Ireland were making great headway up the field when Sergio Parisse made a massive hit on Girvan Dempsey [left], which had the crowd gasping. Five minutes in, and Ireland were givena a penatly, which Ronan O'Gara duely punted over, 0-3 to the hosts

In the first few minutes, Italy seemed to have control of scrum and lineout, but are prone to giving away penalties. However, Italy were pushing the Irish line through loads of phases. They couldn't be breached, but Ramiro Pez saw his opportunity and dropped a lovely goal to level the score 3-3.

Ireland stole an Italian lineout, Simon Easterby [right] taking off with the ball in the Irish 22, but he was caught holding on. Pez took the points, 6-3.

Sixteen minutes in, Dempsey broke free and went over in the corner for a lovely try. Marco Bortolami didn't stand much of a chance chasing the fullback. O'Gara's conversion from way out wide drifted off course at the last minute, so Ireland just took five points to make it 6-8.

Ireland's scrums weren't going well, but they stole an Italian scrum in Ireland's half, David Wallace [left] turning it over at the back of the scrum. They then ran up the field, passing through several hands before Simon Easterby went over in the opposite corner. O'Gara again missed the conversion, but they were ahead 6-13.

Italy came back straight after, but their attack looked rather predictable. Eventually they got a rolling maul going, Ireland infringed, and Italy had a chance to claw back a few points. Pez did the honours to make it 9-13.

Just before the half hour, Italy had possession but weren't making a lot of progress, Pez was in the pocket and pinged another sweet drop goal to encroach again on Ireland's lead, pinning it back to one point 12-13.

The men in green promptly botched their next lineout and Italy stole the ball. They worked it up field into the Irish half, but Ireland turned them over. Several phases saw the ball move towards the Italian line.

The last few minutes before half time were pretty scrappy from Ireland. Just on the half way, Ireland gave away a penalty, but this time Pez' boot just pushed it wide.

Then Ireland made amends with a break to take Gordon D'Arcy [right] over the line. The replay showed what looked like a forward pass in the immediate phases before, but none of the officials picked it up, so the try was allowed to stand. O'Gara added the points from the boot, and the Irish went in at half time with a 12-20 lead.

In the second half, Ireland's first lineout wasn't straight, and Italy won possession from th scrum. They moved up to the 5m line, when Ireland knocked on, to another scrum was set with the Azzurri to put in. Denis Hickey managed to intercept an Italian pass, and chipped ahead. Blue and green chased, but a blue shirt managed to land on it before green could ground for a try. Ireland gained possession from the restart. They then had a quick tap and go penalty and all of a sudden, Girvan Dempsey was over again just under the posts. O'Gara slotted the points and Ireland began to turn the screw, making it 12-27. They needed points badly to have any chance of winning the championship.

Around fifty minutes, there was a lovely Irish chip ahead, but Brian O'Driscoll [left] knocked on inches from the line. Italy secured their scrum ball and cleared to touch. Ireland won the lineout, spun it out wide, and cut loose sending Shane Horgan over in the corner. O'Gara's boot sent it wide, making the score 12-32.

Then the forwards had a go, mauling to the line. They came up just short but shipped it out to the backs, Denis Hickey going out wide for Ireland's sixth try. O'Gara's conversion just shaded through the posts.

Ireland had a scrum put in close to their own line, they won ball and the centres broke free, flying up the pitch. A kick ahead was chased by Ronan O'Gara [right] who grounded it confidently and promptly converted it too, to make it 12-46. Brian O'Driscoll limped off with 20 minutes to go, but his team were looking like romping away and setting a huge score for France to chase in Paris, if they want to win the Championship.

The Italians slowed their haemerage of points a little, and kept possession for some minutes, frustrating Irish attempts at cutting loose any more. Then, with five minutes to go, Captain Marco Bortolami [left] took a high cross-field kick and just crashed over the line for a late Italian consolation try. Scanavacca's kick just went wide, leaving the score at 17-46.

With just three minutes left, Denis Hickey cut loose and scored Ireland's 8th try. O'Gara failed to convert again, so the score stood at 17-51. D'Arcy was named Man of the Match. Even as the clock went into the red, Ireland kept the ball alive and were going for another score, with three tap and go penalties being allowed, two for Ireland and one for Italy. Roland de Marigny manged to go over in the last seconds, the decision went to the Video ref as it looked like a double movement. It was allowed, after several reruns to deliberate. Scanavacca added the two points with the boot and Jonathan Kaplan blew up for full time, 24-51.

That gave France a target of 24 points to chase for the Champoinship.

Or, read my ten word review.

Italy Nearly Contain England

Six Nations Game 4 - England vs Italy (20-7)

Jonny got his Six Nations record points score after 3 minutes. Nick Easter [left] scavanged turnover, on his first start for England at No. 6 and was generally busy around the park.

Italy missed an early penalty. Some good pressure around 12 mins lead to an England penalty which Jonny slotted over meticulously. Not surprising since he apparently practised kicking in the snow on Thursday for 2½ hours!

Allesandro Troncon [right] was winning his 92nd cap for the Azzurri.

I thought it was quite a slow start for England, but they kept the board ticking over from Jonny's boot. Italy's forwards weren't about to be bossed about, making a few yards up the pitch and not letting England's grunt boys get their own way.

Twenty-odd minutes in, Italy were close to England's line, but didn't manage to get any points from it, just ending up with an England 22m dropout. Jason Robinson's subsequent tackle made Kane Robertson hold on to the ball after a couple of phases from the restart and Jonny duly slotted another punt through the sticks for three points.

England were much more likely to compete at the lineout, but unlucky Denis Dallan [left], only just back from 2 years out injured, appeared to suffer a nasty ankle twist after 25 minutes. Pratichetti was wheeled on to replace him.

Italy seemed reluctant to run the ball, and constantly kicked for territory. But honestly, what did they have to lose?

Tindall fell short by a couple of yards from the Italian try line, if he'd passed out to Balshaw then they might have had a try. But they were awarded an attacking lineout 5m out and the forwards went for a frantic maul.

Italy infringed, Marco Bortolami [right] was sent to the bin and Ian Balshaw accompanied him off the field with a groin injury, to be replaced by Matthew Tait. The lineout was duely reset and after a few passes across field via Farrell and Tait, Billy Whizz went over for his third try of this championship. Jonny's left boot went wide, but England were then 14-0. Danny Grewcock took the restart, and soon after the hooter went for half time.

Italy came up for a strong maul just after the break, but Farrell turned them over and Jonny duely kicked for some useful yards over the halfway line. A few moves later, Corry was the only white shirt in his half near the ball and Roland de Marigny bundled him into touch. This gave Italy an attacking lineout and England drove them backwards to turn over the ball for an England scrum. England infringed at the subsequent maul but Italy's boot man was unable to kick the penatly.

England spent most of the second period in their own half, but Italy were again unable to capitalise on points. Italy made a mess of an England scrum, but Ellis then scragged Troncon at the Italian scrum and a later infringement then led to another penalty via Wilko.

It was a hard grind and Italy certainly closed England down from last week's performance. But the scoreboard kept ticking over in England's favour.

Andrea Lo Cicero was substituted just before the 60th minute and all of a sudden, England seemed to wake up and run the ball, both sides of the field. It came to naught and then the Italians had a go - falling short inches before the line but they knocked on. England's scrum was solid, but the ball went out shortly afterwards and Italy had an attacking lineout at 5m.

Italy made a break in the 64th minute for Scanavacca to go over under the posts. A well deserved score, and the conversion made the scoreboard 17-7. Tindall went off just after with a dead leg, to be replaced by Toby Flood.

Italy's score seemed to be a bit of a wakeup call for the Red Rose brigade and all of a sudden they started hitting lines and running all over the pitch. They made some good ground and were over the 10m line but Perry Freshwater [right] knocked on. He was duely substituted as were Chuter and Grewcock. Then Jonny's drop goal attempt dropped just short.

Farrell's later clearance gave Italy a lineout in their own half, but England managed to snatch the ball. The backs threw it out wide but the Azzurri defence was pretty strong. Then they had a hand in the ruck, which gave England another chance at goal - Jonny made it 20-7.

Jason Robinson took the restart kick with five minutes to go. Easter was subbed for Tom Rees [left] then England won a scrum, but Jonny's clearance kick fell into blue arms.

Troncon was named Man Of The Match even though he was on the losing side. But as Brian Moore said, nobody from England really stood out.

So. they ground out a win, but it was far from convincing. However, don't forget Italy have been getting stronger and stronger recently and long gone are te days that sides can routinely put 30-40 points past them. I wasn't surprised it took such an effort. But there's plenty for them to think about and hard work to be done before the next match against Ireland on 24th.

Or read my Ten Word Review.