A NEW dawn for Eddie O'Sullivan's Ireland? Well if this was it, the rest of the day mightn't be all that much to get excited about. Ireland were woefully lucky that they didn't become Italy's third Six Nations scalp in their sixth season in the tournament and for avoiding that dreaded statistic, they have referee Dave Pearson to thank as much as their own efforts. The English whistler is a relative newcomer to this level of competition and if yesterday is anything to go by, he might not be around all that long. He made two crucial decisions at vital junctures in the game which effectively decided the result, both calls needless to say going in Ireland's favour.

Firstly there was Jerry Flannery's first-half try which looked to be less of a score the more times it was replayed on the big screen at Lansdowne Road. You could probably argue successfully either way on that particular call but at the very least it should have gone upstairs to the video referee. Then came Tommy Bowe's try in the eighth minute of the second-half.

The Ulster wing collected Ronan O'Gara's cross-kick well, beat Christian Stoica on his inside with comparative ease but he visibly failed to ground the ball as he crossed the line with Mauro Bergamasco for company.

Replays verified that the Italian flanker had managed to prevent the ball from being grounded but Pearson had whistled to signal the score as Bowe crossed the line. It was a baffling call, especially with the video referee right on hand to make the correct call and the Italians were indignant afterwards at the decision. Eddie O'Sullivan, as you can imagine for a coach under extreme pressure, wasn't. A lucky, lucky break.

Those human errors aside, you still had to feel sorry for the visitors. Raimiro Pez appeared a completely different player at out-half than the last time we saw him, Paul Griffen was commanding at number nine, the second-row combination of Marco Bortolami and Santiago Dellape gave the Irish combination a decent run for their money, while the back-line play of centres Gonzalo Canale and Mirco Bergamasco not only snuffed out the threat of Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy, they also posed a lot of problems to the celebrated pair going forward. Who would have guessed?

As for Ireland, well, it was a disappointing performance, no doubt about it. They certainly mixed their game a little bit more than in previous campaigns but some of their decision making was poor and, as a team, they appeared wholly unrelated to the Munster and Leinster bunch that we saw excelling a few weeks back. O'Sullivan clearly still hasn't been able to fuse the positive elements of the provinces together, and were it not for the extraordinary efforts of Paul O'Connell, O'Gara and as the game wore on, D'Arcy, things could be a lot worse this morning.

Italy dominated early on and Pez's early penalty kept them in front until the 26th minute, when O'Connell's line-out thievery laid the foundations for Flannery's first international try on his second appearance. A debatable effort the more you looked at it, but a nice reward for the hooker who did remarkably well to recover from a few stray throws early on. As a score, it was harsh and utterly unfair on Italy, but the visitors didn't wallow in their own misfortune.

Far from it.

Just four minutes later, Pez gave a show and go to ghost through the gap between O'Gara and D'Arcy, with Mirco Bergamasco emerging on his right shoulder to power over despite the best efforts of O'Driscoll. It was only after the out-half added the convert that Ireland enjoyed their best period of the game, a spell that almost produced two tries in either corner courtesy of Bowe and Shane Horgan. As it turned out, both those moves would prove to be Ireland's most constructive phases of the day.

That pressure did, eventually, yield three points thanks to an O'Gara penalty right on half-time after Pez had tackled D'Arcy late but even though the out-half was binned for his indiscretion, Italy were still by far the brighter side at the start of the second-period. Griffen reverted to out-half, Pablo Canavosio to number nine, and the plucky winger almost forced his way over the line with a run from a quicktapped penalty.

Griffen did knock over a penalty almost immediately afterwards after Ireland were guilty of coming in from the side but then came the moment that changed the game. For the third time O'Gara kicked cross-field to Bowe and this time the Monaghan man gathered to cross the line but not ground the ball. As we've said, a tough call.

O'Gara's convert made it 17-13 and from there the outhalf kicked his side to victory with three penalties to Pez's one as the Italians began to get that little bit too indisciplined at the breakdown. It was a pity because had they kept their hands to themselves, Ireland didn't appear that likely to score by any other means.

It looks like we'll have to wait another while for this new dawn.