Match Reaction: Ireland 26 Italy 16

…Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan watches a television replay amongst his management team at Lansdowne Road…

IRELAND COACH EDDIE O’SULLIVAN:

– ON IRELAND’S PERFORMANCE –

“We’re disappointed with the overall performance – it was a bit of a dog fight and we got into a dog fight we wouldn’t have wanted to get into. But give Italy credit, they played well and they defended very well and put under pressure.

“We probably forced the game too much in the first half – tried to offload too much and made mistakes. We dug out the win and that’s about as much as you can say about it.”

– ON THE OVERALL GAME –

“It was a pretty ugle spectacle. There was a lot of stop-start play, it was a very physical game and no prisoners were taken. We didn’t really sparkle – we needed to get a lot of go forward ball from our pack but we struggled in that area. It’s very hard to play off the back foot when you’re caught behind the gain line. It was a tough game – tougher than most people expected.”

– ON NEXT SATURDAY’S GAME V FRANCE –

“We’ve got to get better go forward ball than today. We’ve to tighten up our lineout – at times, I though we were a bit shaky at our lineouts today and that’s something to work on for next week.

“I don’t think anyone in particular played bally, just as a group we didn’t really fire. It was one of those game that never really got going for us.”

– ON BRIAN O’DRISCOLL’S ALLEGED STAMP –

“I didn’t think it was stamping, he (Brian O’Driscoll) drove him (Fabio Ongaro) back at a ruck – there’s a difference. He certainly didn’t jump up and down on him – that’s my view. I think the official saw it and didn’t see anything wrong with it, so I think you’ve got to leave it at that.

“Nobody got hurt because Ongaro got up and played on. If the citing commissioner takes a different view, I’ll have to have another look at it, but I certainly don’t think anything untoward went on.”

– ON AN ALLEGED BITING INCIDENT –

“One of our players – Simon Easterby – was bitten on the arm by an Italian player. The match commissioner (Rob Flockhart) is looking at it now. It happened about ten minutes from the end at a lineout maul. A substantial mark has been left but the doctor took a look at it and said Simon is okay. We mentioned our concern to the referee (Dave Pearson) but he couldn’t do anything because he didn’t see the incident.

This shouldn’t happen – there is no place in the game for things like this.”

ITALY COACH PIERRE BERBIZIER:

– ON TOMMY BOWE’S TRY –

“(Dave) Pearson seemed very sure it was a try but he had the opportunity to use the video and should have taken it.

“The Irish try should have been examined on replays and disallowed. At that point the match was changing and it was a big decision. I cannot accept Pearson giving the try. I’d like to see their first try (by Jerry Flannery) again and the second was definitely not a score. It was too important a situation for us not to use the television match official.

“We want to play the game with the same rights as other teams. We can’t play with a handicap like this. We are a little team but must be treated the same as other sides.

– ON BRIAN O’DRISCOLL’S ALLEGED STAMP –

“We are very happy with our performance, we have no problems with the result, the try should have gone to the video referee, but we can do nothing about that.

“But the Six Nations must punish stamping. We are very angry about that. I agree with the yellow card for Pez, but I don’t know why there was no card for O’Driscoll for stamping.

“Now, it’s my problem. It’s not my job. I have confidence in the match official.”

IRELAND CAPTAIN BRIAN O’DRISCOLL:

– ON THE ALLEGED STAMP –

“Situations arose during the course of the match when they were trying to slow our ball down, and rucking the ball is part of the game. If your find yourself on the wrong side of the ruck, and you’re trying to slow the ball down, you have to expect to be rucked off it.

“And, as far as I’m concerned, that’s exactly what I was doing.”

– ON HIS FIRST TEST BACK FROM A DISLOCATED SHOULDER –

“It’s a big step up, but the way game was constantly stopping and starting – I don’t think it was one of the more intense internationals I’ve been involved in. For me, it broke me back into the trend of playing Test matches perhaps a little easier than a free-flowing game would have done.

“The intensity of the game was manageable, and the fitness managed to stand up to it, so I’m one more game down the line to being where I want to be.”

IRELAND LOCK AND MAN-OF-THE-MATCH PAUL O’CONNELL:

– ON IRELAND’S PERFORMANCE –

“It was a very tough game. We probably didn’t play that well but they played very well. They put us under a lot of pressure. We are going to have to make a big step up next week against France.

“In some ways they (Italy) have a very strong 22 players and they can rival anyone. We met them in our first game and they were mightily pumped up. We were miles off where our ambitions are but next week hopefully we can turn things around and put in a big performance.”

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