Gordon D'arcy is helped from the field after fracturing his arm © Getty Images

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Matches: Ireland 16 - 11 Italy

Ireland centre Gordon D'Arcy will miss the remainder of the RBS 6 Nations Championship after breaking his arm in today's 16-11 victory over Italy. D'Arcy was hurt while tackling Italy fly-half Andrea Masi in the 26th minute of an unconvincing tournament opener at Croke Park.

Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan said: "Gordon suffered a stress fracture of his forearm. That's the end of his Six Nations and he will have an operation on Monday.''

D'Arcy's injury capped a miserable afternoon for Ireland who produced an unconvincing opening to their Six Nations campaign. Girvan Dempsey crossed in the 18th minute in an encouraging start and with Ronan O'Gara kicking the goals, they remained in the driving seat.

But Italy's perseverance paid off when skipper Sergio Parisse completed a line-out catch and drive that was approved by the television match official.Full-back David Bortolussi added a penalty to blow the match wide open but Ireland held out and O'Sullivan admitted his side had won "ugly".

O'Sullivan said: "In the context of the Six Nations I'm happy with that performance because it's the first game of the championship. You want to hit the ground running but historically you don't. After the initial shadow boxing of the first 10 or 15 minutes we played some good rugby. We created opportunities but unfortunately didn't finish them.

"We lacked a bit of accuracy and had we taken a couple of those chances it would have made our job easier. Italy managed to slow down our ruck ball which killed off our attack. It was a performance that turned ugly as it often has in the past against Italy and we had to dig out an ugly win. It wasn't the display I wanted because it wasn't polished but it's the first day of the championship and it can happen that way.''

Ireland lost the penalty count 11-8 and O'Sullivan was mystified why referee Jonathan Kaplan had come down hard on his side. He said: "For some reason we got on the wrong side of the referee and that kept Italy in the game. I think it's wrong to criticise the referee but it's not like us to be penalised as much as we were. We're a team that gives away six or seven penalties a match and we're usually well disciplined.

"But we got on the wrong side of the referee and that hurt us because it was a one-score game.''

Kaplan went upstairs for confirmation of Parisse's try but a power cut at Croke Park five minutes before half-time robbed half the stadium of power and O'Sullivan did not have the luxury of viewing a replay.

O'Sullivan said: "If the try was awarded then it must have been a try. But there was a power cut so we didn't have any replays and the ref link went down too. We saw it from 100 yards like all of the other punters. The TVMO seemed to take an awful long time to give the try, though.''

Ireland skipper Brian O'Driscoll paid tribute to Italy's resilience but admitted his side were not ruthless enough. The Lions centre said: "We started well and in the first 25 minutes we showed a real cutting edge. If you take your opportunities early on it makes life easier for you. But the longer they were in the game and within touching distance the harder they played. There were some good points but there's still plenty to improve on."

Italy coach Nick Mallett remained upbeat despite the defeat. "We were territorially under a lot of pressure. The most positive thing was the attitude of the team and apart from one isolated incident I want to commend Sergio Parisse for the way he captained the side,'' he said. "I think that if we are realistic we were quite lacking in the first half. There were two occasions where we could have conceded tries. We weren't brilliant but in the second half we did well in that department.

"I'd rather not talk about Ireland. I think they created a little bit more in attacking opportunities than we did and from a territorial point of view they were also on top. On the basis of those two they deserved to win but rugby is a very strange game and what is crucial is to stay in touch with 10 to 15 minutes to go.''

Mallett also defended his team's kicking game. "I'm not worried. I thought Andrea Masi had a good game and also in defence. I think what is important is not to look at one fault but the overall game,'' he added.