Ireland make an emphatic statement

Ireland made an emphatic statement of intent with their 36-6 demolition of Italy in the World Cup match at the Otago Stadium on Sunday – finishing top of Pool C.

The three-tries-to-none victory in Dunedin showed Ireland will be a big threat to Wales, whom they will meet in the quarterfinal in Wellington this coming Saturday.

There was, perhaps, too much emotion in this match. When you saw the teams walking out, the tensions were palpable. When the Italians sang their anthem, there were tears in eyes. At the end of the match, the tension was gone but for the Italians there were again tears in eyes – tears of disappointment. What it told you is that this Italian side was united, a family as coach Nick Mallett has often said.

The Italians lost composure at times on the field, which may have been the result of the emotion – wanting too much for one another, for Italy, for their departing coach. But at least they were composed enough, both coach and choked captain, to compliment Ireland and wish them well. In fact the only words clearly emotional Parisse got out were: “Compliments to Ireland.”

Ireland deserved the compliments as they were much the better side, especially in the second half when they nullified Italy’s attacking weapon – the maul – and carried on running with the ball. Running with the ball was clearly the best weapon a rugby teams has. Both teams defended like heroes but where Italy put their faith in kicking, Ireland put theirs in running with the ball. Running with the ball won.

Italy’s other big weapon, the one everybody spoke of, was the scrum. But the first-half departure of Martín Castrogiovanni, the great destroyer of opponents’ scrums, meant that they had two looseheads on the field – Salvatore Perugini and Andrea Lo Cicero. The scrums were no longer an Italian weapon. There it was – kicking ineffectual, scrums weakened and mauls nullified. There was no road to triumph as a result. Gone was Italy’s best chance to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time.

Ireland scored three tries to nil. They had greater speed and creativity and the pride to keep their opponents tryless.

The score was 6-all when there were allegations of Italian eye-gouging – specifically against Leonardo Ghiraldini on Cian Healy. That was bad for the Italians as the Irish got the paddy up and climbed in with a will. From then on they scored 30 points, Italy none at all. If the eye-gouging happened and was intentional it was counterproductive, surely a madness.

In fact there was too much niggle and spitefulness in the match, out of keeping with the general sportsmanship of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Ireland kicked off, went through phases from the start and scored first. The assistant referee reported Gonzalo Canale for playing a man without the ball. From just in from touch Ronan O’Gara kicked a magnificent goal, proving those whose theory, after Jonny Wilkinson’s poor kicking in the Otago Stadium, was that the climate-free stadium was bad for goal-kickers. O’Gara and Jonathan Sexton kicked their goals – all of them bar the one that hit the upright.

Mirco Bergamasco kicked two and the one he missed also hit an upright. When Healy was penalised at a scrum, Mirco Bergamasco levelled the scores. 3-3 after 10 minutes.

From a line-out Ireland nearly scored on the left when great defence by Gonzalo Garcia and Andrea Masi shoved Brian O’Driscoll and Keith Earls into touch. Sergio Parisse caught the ball in the subsequent line-out but Corniel van Zyl was penalised for obstruction and O’Gara goaled. 6-3 after 16 minutes.

Italy shunted a maul to the Irish line where Paul O’Connell stopped Castrogiovanni but O’Connell was penalised for collapsing the maul and Mirco Bergamasco levelled the score after 20 minutes.

Then came the allegation of eye-gouging, and Italy did not score again.

Tommy Bowe was over under the posts but called back for a forward pass. Ireland countered off a Masi kick and Quintin Geldenhuys was penalised at a tackle., 9-6 after 34 minutes.

Mirco Bergamasco had two chances to level the scores, even after Castrogiovanni went off. The first time he hit the upright and the second time he did not get a chance to kick at goal because his brother’s activities had had the penalty reversed and Ireland kicked out for half-time..

When Lo Cicero was penalised at a tackle, O’Gara made it 12-6, and then Ireland scored a splendid try.

From a line-out on their right, Ireland went left with pick-‘n-drive. Tommy Bowe came off his wing, took a short pass from Conor Murray and beat Riccardo Bocchino on the outside before giving inside to O’Driscoll who ran some 20 metres to score at the posts. The try elicited a cherubic smile from the great Irish captain. 19-0 after 46 minutes.

As strains of The Fields of Athenry echoed round Otago Stadium, the Italian effort wilted somewhat and the Irish stepped up a gear. Again the try was born from a line-out on the right and again there were progressive phases. Gordon D’Arcy forced his way over Bocchino and Ireland went left where Stephen Ferris gave a perfect pass to Earls who scored in the corner. O’Gara converted from touch. 26-6 after 51 minutes.

It had taken Ireland just nine minutes to take the game right away from Italy, scoring 17 points in this nine minutes.

They were close to scoring again and it was only Masi’s miraculous intervention that held Rob Kearney up over the goalline.

Italy had two five-metre line-outs from penalties. They lost one and dropped the ball at the other while Sexton goaled a penalty when Masi played a man with out the ball.

Italy were fortunate not to have a penalty try awarded against them. Italy were in the Irish 22 when Eoin Reddan ripped the ball off Gonzalo Garcia and gave to Denis Leamy who gave quickly to D’Arcy who gave quickly to Bowe. Bowe raced downfield, grubbered, flykicked and flykicked again. He and Tommaso Benvenuti raced for the ball, both diving. Bowe failed to ground the ball but it seemed that he was grabbed by Benvenuti as he went for the ball in the in-goal.

That gave Italy a drop-out and Ireland a chance to counterattack. Andrew Trimble broke and sent Earls over in the corner for his second try which Sexton converted from touch to end the game.

Man of the Match: Ireland’s ability to carry the ball was their best weapon and the best at it was burly Sean O’Brien.

Moment of the Match: Tommy Bowe’s cut and Brian O’Driscoll’s try.

Villain of the Match. If the eye-gouging did occur, the perpetrator would be the Villain of the Match and indeed of the Rugby World Cup. Television evidence suggested that Leonardo Ghiraldini was involved.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries: O’Driscoll, Earls 2
Cons: O’Gara 2, Sexton
Pens: O’Gara 4, Sexton

For Italy:
Pens: Mirco Bergamasco 2

The teams:

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O’Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ronan O’Gara, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O’Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O’Connell, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Andrew Trimble.

Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Tommaso Benvenuti, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Luciano Orquera, 9 Fabio Semenzato, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Cornelius van Zyl, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Salvatore Perugini.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Andrea Lo Cicero, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Edoardo Gori, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Luke McLean.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)