If O'Driscoll is sidelined there is the likelihood of a recall for Ulster's veteran Kevin Maggs, and Shane Horgan may also play in the centre, where he finished yesterday's match.The injuries were witnessed by the British and Irish Lions manager Sir Clive Woodward, who saw a determined and skilful Italy side finish on the wrong end of a scoreline which in no way reflected their performance.The Irish had to withstand a period of high pressure as the Italians stormed into their 22 and stayed there for the opening 20 minutes. It was frantic, furious stuff.When they gained possession Ireland found it almost impossible to clear their lines. The fly-half Ronan O'Gara appeared to have problems with the ball, which flew awkwardly and tended to dip early, thus robbing the kicks of length and resulting in touch being missed on more than half a dozen occasions.But all the Italians had to show for their sweat and toil was a solitary penalty from their fly-half Luciano Orquera, who missed three kicks at goal before being replaced by the full-back Roland de Marigny, who succeeded with his first kick just before half time.The Italians were rarely out of touch. Their forwards did well, particularly their back row, but we expected more from their threequarters They have to attack more in the backs.". ItalyTry: Castrogiovanni Pens: Orquera, De Marigny 3 IrelandTries: Murphy, Stringer, HickieCons: O'Gara 2Pens: O'Gara 3 Att: 25,000 Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy look likely to miss Ireland's next match in the Six Nations Championship after hobbling out of a hard-won match with hamstring injuries.According to Ireland's head coach, Eddie O'Sullivan, D'Arcy looks the more seriously injured.

"Gordon is under pressure to be fit for next week's match against Scotland at Murrayfield We are not so sure of the extent of Brian's injury. "They have got to be able to play more, if they are going to test Ireland. Petrie is aware of the threat this coming weekend, calling the Ireland threequarters, "One of the best back-lines in Europe, if not the world. But we have to go at them as hard as we can and play the game tight."But the Scots would do well to heed the words of France's defensive coach Dave Ellis. But Petrie insisted there was a lot for which Scotland could be proud, and much to build on for Saturday at Murrayfield.

"We are not the low-level side a lot of people thought we were. We have a lot of rugby in us and there is a lot of passion, too. We don't want people to say we played well and were unlucky to lose That is the age-old Scottish thing. You have your lows after the match but we have to pick ourselves up quickly."A lot of the criticism spurs us on.

The players are the guys a lot of people in Scottish rugby look up to. But in Paris on Saturday, Glasgow's John Petrie may just have become that rarest of species, a wronged Scottish flanker. The yellow card Welsh referee Nigel Williams waved at Petrie with 10 minutes left at Stade de France, decided the game. But we are under no illusions, Ireland will be extremely tough." It is only 12 months since Scotland were cut to pieces by the invention and pace of the Irish backs in Dublin. If we can lift the performances of the national team, we will lift the spirits of everyone in rugby. Scotland, ahead 9-6 at the time, could not hold on with 14 men.

And long into the evening, Petrie continued to deny he had been guilty of any misdemeanour "He blew up and said I had been blatantly offside But I am convinced I didn't do anything Whether someone else had, I don't know. I was further out in the back line and I didn't think I came out of the line or flew up particularly quickly." What was undeniable, in Petrie's words, was that the decision cost Scotland the game."I cannot help but feel that decision cost us the match. That makes it very difficult for me to deal with, especially when I know I didn't do anything wrong. We should have won the game and we realised that the more it went on. We worked our socks off to smother France defensively but now we'll have to do something similar against Ireland on Saturday. A lot of the pressure we were putting on them was one reason France couldn't get into the game.