RUGBY/Ireland 23 Italy 20:Alessandro Troncon had to be restrained at the final whistle, Italian coach Pierre Berbizier was also seething as he made his feelings known to referee Nigel Owens. But it was another Welshman, the television match official Derek Bevan, who was the ultimate arbiter of Ireland's victory at Ravenhill last night.

He took four minutes to deliberate before deciding that Irish outhalf Ronan O'Gara had legitimately grounded the ball for a try as he was enveloped and turned by Italian replacement Ezio Galon. As an escape clause this was a real doozy, as the home side clambered out of a massive hole by dint of their fingertips.

In some respects the result shouldn't matter too much; unless, of course, you're Italian.

Ireland, though, shouldn't take any succour from the victory, because for most of last night in Belfast they struggled horribly. On the cusp of the World Cup, it is a real concern.

It was an ominously disjointed display, error-strewn, pedestrian and in the case of the twin set-pieces of scrum and lineout, ragged.

Italy lacked ambition for most of this game, preferring to boot the leather off the ball, play for field position and wait for Ireland to implode.

In too many physical collisions Ireland came off second best, spilling possession or suffering because the backrow was conspicuously slower to the breakdown. As a triumvirate they didn't function as a unit, albeit that Neil Best produced a brilliant second-half display, replete with trademark thumping tackles and some muscular forays.

The Italians turned over far too much Irish ball thus denying the home side the continuity they craved. Even when they did manage to go through the phases, outside of Gordon D'Arcy the direction was more lateral than penetrative.

There was the odd exception in the opening 40 minutes when Denis Hickie failed to spot Girvan Dempsey in support, and on another occasion when D'Arcy's high pass forced Geordan Murphy to check and then fumble: both might have led to tries, but in doing so they would have glossed over a worrying array of frailties on the night.

Ireland's scrum buckled alarmingly, pushed off one ball and generally shunted into a slow back pedal.

It seemed incongruous that referee Nigel Owens would twice penalise the visitors in that facet of the game, but then the Welsh official offered several puzzling decisions.

Arguably the most controversial was his decision not to send off Italy's excellent number eight Sergio Parisse. The incident started when Italian captain Marco Bortolami shoved Peter Stringer unnecessarily, Donnacha O'Callaghan and Martin Castrogiovanni initially exchanged pleasantries to be joined by a host of other players.

It never amounted to more than pushing and shoving until Parisse unloaded a couple of haymakers long after Owens had whistled several times. He should have walked.

The niggle and trash-talking largely disappeared after the interval; Italy having gone into the dressingroom leading 13-10.

O'Gara kicked a penalty and converted a try by Andrew Trimble, the product of a towering up and under that David Bortolussi failed to gather under pressure from D'Arcy, and the latter's midfield partner latched onto the bouncing ball in the in-goal area.

The Italians' response came through the boot of Bortolussi, who dropped a superb long-range goal, kicked a penalty and then added the conversion to some quick thinking by Troncon, who ran a close-range penalty and was driven over by his blue-shirted cohorts.

Ireland looked to go wide or punch ball through the middle in the first half, but the blue line rarely buckled, led by some thumping tackles by centre Mirco Bergamasco.

After the interval Ireland chose to explore the fringes of ruck and maul, looking for go-forward ball, but still rarely managed to rouse themselves from the mediocre.

O'Gara kicked a penalty on 47 minutes and then appeared to have snatched a narrow victory with a drop goal on 78 minutes, but the home side had reckoned without one more potentially calamitous error.

Spilling ball inside the Italians 22, the visitors hacked the ball clear and, after Kaine Robertson and Murphy collided in the chase, Italian wing Matteo Pratichetti collected the loose ball and raced over under the posts.

Roland de Marigny added the conversion to make it 20-16 and Ireland were staring at defeat.

To their credit they responded with the dynamism and focus that was lacking for most of the game, eventually culminating in O'Gara's lunge for the line, a try he converted.

What will concern Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan most is the tenor of the performance and the fact that once again his side lacked the precision and ruthlessness to create and then exploit opportunities.

Heading to France, the quality of the Irish performances in the Six Nations Championship seems a million miles away on the evidence of the recent matches against Scotland and Italy.

Ireland are much better than their pre-World Cup games suggest, but it's up to them to prove it when it matters in France next month.

Scoring sequence. 4 mins: O'Gara penalty, 3-0; 20: Bortolussi drop goal, 3-3; 26: Trimble try, O'Gara conversion, 10-3; 31: Bortolussi penalty, 10-6; 38: Troncon try, Bortolussi conversion, 10-13. Half-time: 10-13. 78: O'Gara drop goal, 16-13; 83: Pratichetti try, de Marigny conversion, 16-20; 88: O'Gara try, O'Gara conversion, 23-20.

IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster); G Murphy (Leicester), A Trimble (Ulster), G D'Arcy (Leinster), D Hickie (Leinster); R O'Gara (Munster), P Stringer (Munster); M Horan (Munster), R Best (Ulster), J Hayes (Munster); D O'Callaghan (Munster), P O'Connell (Munster, capt); S Easterby (Llanelli), N Best (Ulster), D Leamy (Munster). Replacements: S Best (Ulster) for Hayes 70 mins; M O'Kelly (Leinster) for O'Connell 73 mins; J Flannery (Munster) for R Best 77 mins; B Carney (Munster) for Hickie 84 mins; I Boss (Ulster) for Stringer 84 mins.

ITALY: D Bortolussi; K Robertson, G Canale, Mirco Bergamasco, M Pratichetti; R de Marigny, A Troncon); S Perugini, F Ongaro, M Castrogiovanni; V Bernabo, M Bortolami (capt); A Zanni, R Barbieri, S Parisse. Replacements: M Vosawa for Barbieri half-time; E Galon for Bortolussi 47 mins; M Aguero for Perugini 53 mins; Perugini for Castrogiovanni 63 mins; J Sole for Vosawa 67 mins; P Griffen for Canale 70 mins; P Canavosio (Castres) for Bergamasco 74 mins.

Referee: N Owens (Wales).