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Rob Kearney 6
Poor day and his lazy charge-down gifted the Italians their try just before the break. Not a performance to impress the Krystle set over their glasses of bubbly.
Tommy Bowe 6
Lucky not to have caught pneumonia on the wing and, when the ball managed to come his way, he was unable to crack open the Italian defence.
Brian O'Driscoll 7
Frustrating afternoon for Irish skipper but showed his class with sublime flick pass to keep momentum going for Heaslip's opening try.
Gordon D'Arcy 6.5
Did the simple things well but struggled to find space to open up the Italians and, when he did, there was no support as he was stopped 10 metres from the line.
Andrew Trimble 6.5
Welcomed back from international wilderness by Bergamasco with a crunching tackle but dusted himself down and created the initial break for Ireland's opening try.
Ronan O'Gara 7.5
Super flat pass allowed Trimble to set up Ireland's opening try and was superb with the boot. Will keep his place for Paris, end of story.
TomÁs O'Leary 7
A livewire at base of scrum and will cherish DVD of his first try for Ireland... and at Croke Park of all places.
Cian Healy 6.5
Found the early going tough against Castrogiovanni but more than held his own and will have afforded himself a smile when the Leicester prop was called home after 55 minutes.
Jerry Flannery 6
On the mark with his darts and will be all the better for his 55 minutes on the pitch. Much tougher days ahead.
John Hayes 6
Doodle of a day's work and more than held his own in the scrum. Nice way to celebrate the start to another season.
Leo Cullen 7.5
More than held his own as he managed to steal line-out ball at will and did the donkey work to allow O'Leary cross for his try. Tired in the second half but ball in Kidney's court for Paris showdown.
Paul O'Connell 6
Did what was needed and was overshadowed by his second-row partner Cullen. Knows there's a long road and harder battles ahead.
Kevin Mclaughlin 6
Made very little impression on international debut against an abysmal Italian side. Kidney will be anxiously waiting word today on Ferris's injury.
David wallace 6.5
Got legs pumping early with great effect but was too easily turned over by Bergamasco under the visitors' posts.
Jamie Heaslip 6
Took his try well but failed to impose himself on a game that needed someone to take it by the scruff of the neck.
Subs
Keith earls 6 - Showed his hunger and will challenge Trimble for that wing place in France.
Rory Best 6 - Will be all the better for his time off the bench.
Donnacha Ryan 6 - Able deputy for his Munster colleague O'Connell.
Paddy wallace 7 - Kidney took the opportunity to empty the bench and the one to who impressed most was Wallace who, in his brief 15-minute 'cameo' provided plenty of food for thought for the Irish backroom team.
ITALY
Luke McLean 4.5
Kanie Robertson 4.5
Gonzalo Canale 5
Gonzalo Garcia 5
Mirco Bergamasco 5.5
Craig Gower 5
Tito Tebaldi 4.5
Salvatore Perugini 4.5
Leonardo Ghiraldini 5
Martin Castrogiovanni 5
CA Del Fava 4.5
Quintin Geldenhuys 5
Jose Sole 5
Mauro Bergamasco 5.5
Alessandro Zanni 5
Subs
Marco Bortolami 5.5
Matias Aguero 5.5
Andrea Massi 5
Simon Picone 4.5
Riccardo Bocchino 5
Fabio Ongaro not on long enough to be rated
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I'm not sure how you can only give the front row ratings of 6-6.5 against what everyone beforehand was calling the best scrummagingfront- row in the 6N? Hayes was immense and the other two were also very lively around the pitch.
Likewise to give Wallace (Man of the Match) a 6.5 is seriously unfair, especially when you give Kearney and Trimble 5 and 6.5 respectively.
Kearney was very poor, his kicking was woefully lazy and ill-directed and he should have been the one replaced by Earls.
Leo played well, but he did not outplay POC. Kevin McLoughlin tried hard, but wasn't quite as good as hoped for so a 6 may be fair for him, but he was definitely better than Kearney. Your ratings are inconsistent and seem to be based on pre-determined biases.