Lashing rain and strong winds took their inevitable toll the encounter at Lansdowne Road, with the nightmare handling and kicking conditions effectively scuppering Irelands RBS 6 Nations title hopes.

They needed a hatful of points against the Italians to have a chance of winning the championship, but the elements put paid to any ambitions of running up a cricket score at their Dublin stronghold.

A first Triple Crown in 19 years is still available to them, however, provided they beat Scotland next Saturday - and Foley hopes his side will be able to turn on the style on the way to landing that title.

The general conditions meant we couldnt perform like we wanted to do, said the Munster back row.

But we stuck to the task and got the result we deserved. I hope well be able to show what we can do against Scotland.

Weve got a chance of winning the Triple Crown, and that would be a great reward for what weve achieved this season.

The weather should have suited Italys physical gameplan, allowing John Kirwans men to keep play in the tight where they are traditionally at their strongest. But it was Ireland who did a better job of adapting to the conditions.

Italys forwards are really building a name for themselves, so it was pretty important that we fronted up. We didnt take a backwards step all day, so were pretty happy about our performance as a unit, said Foley.

You can look at Italy and say that theyre not one of the big sides, but they are a huge potential banana skin if you dont perform. We were up for that game as much as when we went to Twickenham - and we needed to be.