Irish reaction It wasn't quite a façade as Reggie Corrigan smiled and obliged every autograph hunter who approached him in the team hotel despite the fact his broken right arm was the one that bore his writing hand. He painstakingly scribbled his signature as best he could.on a gruelling but good week for the Irish squad, withprop Reggie Corrigan the only major casualty"It's just one of those things: everything going well andsuddenly you suffer a freak accident."It is hugely disappointing because the team is doing sowell."- Reggie Corrigan-

A couple of hours earlier in the Stadio Flaminio the Leinster captain's world, much like his right arm, was shattered in a collision with Italian right wing Mauro Bergamasco. "I was just swinging to wrap my arm around him in a tackle and his head hit me straight on the radial (forearm) bone, breaking it.

"I knew straight away it was serious. It's been examined and tomorrow I'll have to have an operation to put a plate in the arm. I've been told it could be six to eight weeks. It's just one of those things: everything going well and suddenly you suffer a freak accident.

"It is hugely disappointing because the team is doing so well."

Compounding Corrigan's misfortune is the fact that the injury makes the Leinster prop doubtful to lead his side in the Heineken European Cup quarter-final against Biarritz at Lansdowne Road in April.

"I won't be giving up on that quite yet. Hopefully it will heal quickly."

It is a bitter blow for a player who has never played better than he is at present. Firmly established as his province's and Ireland's first choice loosehead he has thrived on the responsibility, a leader in deed as well as marshalling his players verbally.

Indeed several of the Ireland players sported the scars of a physical encounter, Anthony Foley (black eye) and Kevin Maggs (eye and swollen lip) offering the more visible signs. The players were exhausted, as were the management, including coach Eddie O'Sullivan.

No other country could match Ireland's schedule in the Six Nations championship, no other country being asked to play back-to-back matches away from home in the space of six days.

Their victories are a credit to all concerned.

O'Sullivan admitted everyone was tired and looking forward to a mini-break before they reconvene on Wednesday.

"It was going to be Tuesday but everyone needs an extra day.

"It's been a very difficult couple of weeks, particularly this week as there was a very intense game (against the Scots) last Sunday and two travel days in Monday and Thursday. Italy was a physical game, again slightly different from Scotland in that it was not as quick, more stop-start, but the Italians were very physical.

"It is a very big Italian side and they were fired up. We spent the first 10 or 15 minutes defending, which is tough on a side."

He expressed his satisfaction that Ireland had kept their composure when one or two handling errors crept in.

"It mightn't have been as clinical as least week but there was a lot of character. There were periods of the game when we had to work very hard. We did make some errors but we dealt quite well with those by not giving up many points.

"By and large we defended well and our set piece was excellent, we put a lot of pressure on their scrum. The lineout fired very well. We performed well in those areas again. We scored five tries, five different backs, and I think that's a good return for 80 minutes work."

And what did he make of the Italians? "The opinions expressed in Italy are very harsh at times. They are a very good side, they have a lot of strings to their bow. Any of the coaches that play against them give them great respect, which is only correct."

Italy's New Zealand-born coach John Kirwan was philosophical in defeat. "We came up against a very good Ireland team. The first half was very intense and we missed out on a number of chances to score but Ireland deserved their victory.

"I think we should have taken better advantage of the opportunities that we created and put opposing teams under more pressure. We need to make good decisions when we are under pressure. It's about taking chances that are presented. We'll see where we went wrong on the video and how we can improve for the next match.

"We felt that under pressure we need to hang on to the ball a bit more and we needed more patience on the field there today. We needed more confidence to hang onto the ball and work our phases.

"One of the positives was that we were putting them under pressure when we hung on to the ball. We nearly scored three times. We need to make those chances concrete and put the points away. However, the Irish have to be happy with their game today, the played well and their Six Nations is on track."

Captain and scrumhalf Alessandro Troncon was not too downhearted. "It was not too bad in terms of defence in the second half, particularly one on one. Ireland did manage to score two very good tries but overall, I wasn't too disappointed with the way we handled things."

Italy head for Edinburgh, and Ireland go on to embrace the French connection at Lansdowne Road on Saturday week.

The dream goes on.