If we have spoken about the media and sport you’ll know my opinions on how I believe the they like to manipulate public opinion on certain people.

I could start listing some examples of this, but to do so I would have to name names, and that would create a link to a team, and that would trigger people to seek consonance between their moral expectations and club-affiliated reality.

Lennon’s Eyebrow wrote a thought-provoking piece titled “Throwing stones in glass houses: On villainy, outrage, and fandom” that covers a lot of ground (and names some names).

I am a harsh critic of sports media, but it’s not just the professionals who irk me. Media like Twitter and Facebook provide people with a platform to publicly air their opinions, and other like-minded people retweet, like, and agree with each other until the muddled partisan generally senseless crescendo. If you support a different team, and have a different opinion, you are deluded.

Talking about a game was something I used enjoy, but now not so much, as media influenced opinions wash over the conversation with devastating sense-cleansing effect.

Ireland started their 2010 6 Nations campaign with a 29-11 win over Italy. A poor game to watch, but as is the nature of games against Italy, because they slow the game down, they are rarely wonderful rugby spectacles.

There were some pluses like Paddy Wallace’s impact from the bench. He looked like a creative spark on an otherwise dull day. Earls too added some much needed energy. It’s amazing that we have such a strong bench nowadays, even taking our injuries into consideration.

The back row was pretty quite today, which says a lot for the how Italy controlled the type of game. Cullen and O’Connell were very good in the lineout, but about the park O’Connell always makes more of an impact when O’Callaghan is on his shoulder.

O’Leary is still caught behind the ruck too often, he needs to get himself clear quicker. O’Gara had a great day with the boot, and his pass to Trimble in the first half was just peachy.

It’s a pity D’Arcy didn’t get a chance to show more, but with the ball flying over and back above his head that was never going to happen.

A win is a win, roll on Paris.