On a sun-kissed Roman morning the Irish management and captain Keith Wood sat on the steps overlooking the practice pitch they had just used at the impressive Centro Sprotivo "Giulio Onesti" complex near today's match venue, the Flaminio Stadium. Any chance of catching a few rays was quickly denied them by the attendant media scrum. Eternally memorable this city may be, but this is no holiday.

If body language and words are any yardstick, the Irish conveyed the contented, confident mood of a squad who, despite injuries, European Cup distractions and a Papal audience, had prepared very well this week.

"People saw us play in November and we were looking to move the ball and looking to score tries and we'll look to continue to do exactly the same thing here," said coach Warren Gatland.

"We put 60 points on them last year. I'm not saying we're going to do the same this time. We're expecting a very tough physical game but we're playing with confidence, there's a lot of self-belief in the side and we're going out there to move the ball and score points."

By contrast the Italians appeared to have a major concern about Diego Dominguez. Their record points scorer was unable to practise his goalkicking yesterday and took no part in training due to his groin strain.

Though he is still expected to play, this cannot be ideal for Italy. The Irish management hinted it might be a smokescreen. "All our preparations are on the basis of Dominguez playing," said Gatland.

Regardless, on the evidence of Gatland's visit to Genoa for Italy's gutsy 56-19 defeat by the All Blacks and video re-viewing, the Irish camp are bracing themselves for a very fiery first-quarter onslaught from the Italians and have identified discipline and composure as vital in the early exchanges.

The recent diktats from the International Board to the referees nominated for the Six Nations championship leave a cloud. The Irish squad had referee Dave McHugh with them last Monday and in reviewing the tape of the Munster-Biarritz game Gatland concluded that there could have been a penalty "at every ruck".

Although a chat with match referee Jonathan Kaplan comforted the Irish, there still could be trouble ahead. Referees will be extra keen to be seen to be doing the right thing by their employers early in the season, however the picture changes later on.

Continuity may suffer, and if the early games are fractious, stop-start affairs, this weekend's round of openers may provide an early shock. Ireland haven't won their opening championship game since beating Scotland at home in 1988, and have lost on two previous visits to this country.

The likelihood is that today's game will pan out in one of two ways. The Irish tight five may quickly impose themselves for Ronan O'Gara to dictate the early flow and apply Ireland's quicker tempo game. Alternatively, it could be akin to the Bologna match three seasons ago, with the first dozen of scores being three-pointers and the game only breaking free in the final half hour or so.

Italy have the advantage of being at home, but they also have nine of last season's beaten outfit. While they may feel they have a score to settle, and will assuredly have targeted this game more than any other, were Ireland to generate a high tempo over a few phases then the gaps should appear when the Italians are attacked with pace out wide.

Were Denis Hickie and Brian O'Driscoll here, confidence in an overdue first win would be stronger. Ireland should still do enough to pull clear eventually, perhaps with some assistance from the bench or divine inspiration.