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Ireland got their defence of their Six Nations crown off to a winning start, with a comfortable 29-11 win over a willing Italian team at Croke Park, Dublin, on Saturday.

The Irish, who outscored the visitors by two tries to one, simply had too much experience for the willing, but outclassed Italians. While the game had its moments, the Irish were never really required to go beyond three-quarter pace to get the better of the visitors.

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The Italian defence was up very quickly for most of the game, but also left gaps and became very fragmented at times.

Italy contested very well at the breakdown and their scrums were, as usual, very strong - even winning a couple of penalties, one that was turned into points. However, the Irish line-out dominated their opposition all too easy, which saw the Italians struggling to get any real momentum.

Another aspect of the Italian game that let them down was their ball control, with their options not always the best and some very ordinary field kicking handed the ball back to the eager Irish all too often.

There was also a number of refereeing inconsistencies - which saw a yellow card flashed at midfielder Gonzalo Garcia, but allowed Irish lock Leo Cullen to get away with just a penalty for an equally dangerous act of foul play and fullback Rob Kearney also being punished with only a penalty for foul play.

Irish flyhalf Ronan O'Gara managed to break the deadlock in the 10th minute - slotting a penalty awarded by French referee Romain Poite, who felt Italian prop Martin Castrogiovanni was pulling down Irish rival Cian Healy at a scrum.

Jamie Heaslip scored Ireland's first try, in the 15th minute - a score created through a strong run by Andrew Trimble down the left wing. Once the Italians' first line had been breached, it just required simple, quick hands to get the ball to a man in space on the right. O'Gara added the extras for a 120-0 lead after 16 minutes.

Craig Gower eventually managed to get the Italians on the board - a 40-metre penalty, awarded after the Irish scrum fractured under the Italian pressure.

However, almost from the restart the Italians were penalised at the breakdown and O'Gara restored his team's 10-point lead - 13-3.

The Italians, who so often let themselves down just when they start building pressure, were reduced to 14 men in the 32nd minute - when Gonzalo Garcia was yellow carded for a spear tackle on Irish opponent Brian O'Driscoll. And O'Gara wasted not time in stretching his team's lead - 16-3.

That became 23-3 with less than five minutes in the half to go, when scrumhalf Tomas O'Leary sniped around a ruck - set up by some strong driving from the forwards - and scored the defending champions' second try. O'Gara was on target with the conversion.

Minutes later the Italians had their first try - Kaine Robertson charging down an attempted clearance by Rob Kearney and following up to score. Mirco Bergamasco took the conversion, but his attempt was wide.

That saw the Irish take a 23-8 lead into the break.

Lock Leo Cullen and flank Kevin McLaughlin gave a couple of penalties inside the first five minutes - with Cullen very fortunate not to be carded for his act of foul play - and Mirco Bergamasco landed the penalty to give Italy the first points of the second half - 11-23.

As was the case in the first half, the Italians undid their hard work with some poor discipline and in the 47th minute O'Gara made it 26-11 - as he maintained his 100 percent goal-kicking record.

Paddy Wallace eventually added to the Irish score, following about 20 minutes of very scrappy play, as the replacement flyhalf kicked a penalty with just on 12 minutes remaining - 29-11.

There was a late rally from the Italians, but the Irish defence had the measure of the visitors and their defence got off to a winning start.

Man of the match: You can look at the Irish forwards - who, as a collective, were far superior to the Italians and best of that bunch was flank David Wallace. Brian O'Driscoll again showed that his vision is just a class above - sometimes his execution was not the best, but all too often he created the half-gap that set up players elsewhere. Flyhalf Ronan O'Gara also showed his experience. However, we feel that Irish scrumhalf Tomas O'Leary, with his tactical appreciation and quality of service so much better than Italian No.9 Tito Tebaldi, was where the real difference was. O'Leary gets our award.

Moment of the match: We are going for the try by Irish scrumhalf Tomas O'Leary - just before the break - when he sniped around a ruck, set up by some strong driving from the forwards. That score Put the match beyond the Italians - even though they tried desperately to get back into the game.

Villain of the match: The nastiness came from Italian centre Gonzalo Garcia, who was yellow carded in the 32nd minute for a spear tackle  on Brian O'Driscoll, while Irish lock Leo Cullen and fullback Rob Kearney were also guilty of some brutal acts of foul play. However, the inconsistencies in dealing with acts of foul play by French referee Romain Poite gets our award. If Garcia deserved a yellow card - and he did - how on earth did the two Irish players stay on the field. Until this lack of consistency is sorted out, there will always be criticism over the conduct of match officials.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries: Heaslip, O'Leary
Cons: O'Gara 2
Pens: O'Gara 4, Wallace

For Italy:
Try: Robertson
Pens: Gower, Mirco Bergamasco

Yellow card: Gonzalo Garcia (Italy, 32 - foul play, spear tackle)

The teams:

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Gordan D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Leo Cullen, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donncha Ryan, 19 Sean O'Brien, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Paddy Wallace, 22 Keith Earls

Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Kaine Robertson, 13 Gonzalo Canale, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Alessandro Zanni, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Josh Sole, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Antonio Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini (captain), 1 Salvatore Perugini
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Marco Bortolami, 19 Paul Derbyshire, 20 Simon Piccone, 21 Riccardo Bocchino, 22 Andrea Masi.

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
TMO: Geoff Warren (England)