SHANE HORGAN 9 His intervention for Easterby's try just shows what a world class player he is. Most wingers would have been tackled and stopped short and a ruck would have formed where the opposition would have been quite happy just to concede three points. His completion rate in that sort of try-scoring situation is unrivalled.

BRIAN O'DRISCOLL 8.5 Hasn't been right throughout this championship and it looked to me as if his hamstring is worse than when he pulled it initially in the Welsh game. They shouldn't even think of sending him to Argentina. He needs full rehab to make sure he's right for the World Cup. Ireland lacked his leadership badly in the last 15 minutes.

GORDON D'ARCY 9 Was extremely clever when he made the decisive break for O'Gara's try. All he had to do was "x De Marigny in an open mid"eld and back himself in a foot race but D'Arcy probably realised that he could tear his groin again and he just held it up as he moved inside and then outside where his pals "nished it off. The outstanding centre in the championship, just an impossibility to try and stop him behind the gainline.

DENIS HICKIE 10 This should shut up the 'he's lost a yard of pace' brigade. There is no substitute for pace and he skinned every Italian back. His counter-attacking interventions and also his ability to make blindside moves into mid"eld marked him out as Ireland's best player on the pitch yesterday.

RONAN O'GARA 9 Had a very composed game and managed to control the ball well in the sense that when it became too manic he just called a halt and kicked the ball along. Once again, he showed his industry when coming from deep to score his own try which is a great sign.

Unsel"shly took a few hits when setting others up for tries.

PETER STRINGER 8 Had a great tussle with his old pal Troncon. Late in the game, in a great little cameo, Troncon was on the ball with a penalty. He tapped and went straight into Stringer at full pace. Stringer brought him to ground and then managed to get back up and save a try from a chip through.

MARCUS HORAN 6.5 Did remarkably well to stick it on the park and he was needed.

Struggled at scrum time. Didn't see too much of him around the park.

RORY BEST 6.5 Won't blame him for the line-out debacle. Managed to put in a number of good hits around the fringe and always made himself available for hard work.

JOHN HAYES 7 You could see that Perugini was cutting in and underneath him and he gave him a fair bit of trouble all day. Once again, all his concentration and energy was needed to try and keep the scrum safe.

DONNCHA O'CALLAGHAN 5 This was one where he needed to step up to the mark and did not do so. Survives by being around better players and when it was put up to him to show himself, it did not happen.

MICK O'DRISCOLL 3 After 50 minutes of rugby he has managed to play himself out of Ireland's World Cup squad. At this stage Hogan and Cullen are ahead of him. Toiled at line-out time all day.

SIMON EASTERBY 8.5 Another excellent performance, work rate and intelligence up to his usual standards. Didn't see a huge amount of ball thrown to him at line-out time. Again, he tackle count was well into double "gures.

DAVID WALLACE 9.5 A stunning offensive performance. Seemed to be on the ball nearly every minute in the "rst half and made it happen for Ireland offensively when they needed points on the board.

Sensational performance.

DENIS LEAMY 8 Had formidable opposition in the form of the spring-heeled Sergio Parisse who looked good for the "rst 25-30 minutes but made a couple of crucial mistakes and at this stage Leamy's gritty performance took him well past in the head-to-head duel.

SUBS JERRY FLANNERY 6 SIMON BEST 3 TREVOR HOGAN 5.5 ANDREW TRIMBLE 6 ITALY Roland De Marigny 8 Kaine Robertson 6 Ezio Galon 6 Mirco Bergamasco 7 Matteo Pratichetti 4 Ramiro Pez 8 Alessandro Troncon 8 Salvatore Perugini 6.5 Carlo Festuccia 6.5 Carlos Nieto 6.5 Santiago Dellape 8 Marco Bortolami 9 Alessandro Zanni (injured) 0 Maurizio Zaffiri 7 Sergio Parisse 7.5 SUBS Josh Sole 7