O'Gara strikes late for Irish
A controversial late try from Ronan O'Gara earned Ireland victory over Italy after the Azzurri had looked set to claim an upset.
By Ben Sullivan
Last Updated: 24/08/07 10:20pm
A controversial late try from fly-half Ronan O'Gara earned Ireland a 23-20 victory over Italy in Belfast after the Azzurri had looked set to claim a shock win.
Matteo Pratichetti scored in injury time to put Italy ahead 20-16 and on the brink of their first victory over Ireland in more than a decade.
There was just time for one more Irish attack and when Andrew Trimble off-loaded to O'Gara, the Munster half looked certain to score.
But Kaine Robertson hit him with a tremendous tackle as he tried to touch down and the ball squirted loose.
It looked for all the world like a knock-on but after lengthy deliberation the video referee awarded the match-winning try, to the delight of a full house at Ravenhill and the fury of the visitors.
It was a dramatic end to an attritional, error-strewn game, although an experimental Italy side will take more from it heading into next month's World Cup than an almost full-strength Irish line-up.
O'Gara kicked a penalty for Ireland in the first half and David Bortolussi knocked over a long-range drop-goal and a penalty for the visitors.
Ireland went ahead when O'Gara's high bomb bounced wickedly in the shadow of the posts and Trimble reacted first to score a well-taken try.
But with three minutes left in the half, Alessandro Troncon punished Ireland with a quickly-taken tap penalty 10 metres out and drove low through the retreating forwards to score.
Deep in first half injury time, O'Gara put a kickable penalty into the corner, but despite Paul O'Connell taking good line-out ball, the Italian defence held off Ireland's rolling maul.
That gave Italy a 13-10 half-time lead, quickly cancelled out by the boot of O'Gara.
The fly-half slotted a 73rd minute drop-goal to edge Ireland ahead before Italy looked to have grabbed the win.
There was also more than an element of controversy about this one. Peter Stringer lost the ball in midfield and Pratichetti won the chase when the ball was hacked on, although Geordan Murphy was clearly impeded by Robertson during the chase.
Derek Bevan in the video booth allowed the try to stand and was rewarded with a chorus of boos, but moments later the Ulster crowd were cheering him to the rafters.
