That’s it from me this afternoon, thanks for your company and join us in a couple of weeks for round three. Bye!
Andy Farrell is offering his view
“We’re happy enough, we got what we wanted obviously: a bonus point win. Some nice tries and some good performances, but some stuff to work on. I thought [Lowe] played really well, but I thought our scrum was the man of the match, our lineout also. The competition really gets going from here on in.”
Zero points for Italy and only two visits to the Ireland 22. Yikes.
There are some factors that you have to put down to a very good Ireland side, but the state of their lineout and the basics in handling was unforgivable and there is no excusing it.
James Lowe, player of the match.
“We went in trying to win at home, we are pleased but a few things to work on going forward. The boys who came in, it shows there’s no cliques and the set piece was phenomenal again. We put ourselves under pressure with some mistakes, and we can’t let teams have any easy access.”
FULL TIME!
80+2 mins. There’s nearly a late score for Gibson-Park, but his stretching arm cannot ground the ball without spilling it. Knock-on, game over. A thumping bonus point win for Ireland against a poor Italy performance.
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80 mins. Ireland are pushing for a final score with the clock in the red. Italy are looking for the life rafts.
TRY! Ireland 36 - 0 Italy (Calvin Nash)
78 mins. A late scrum has the same outcome of an Ireland penalty. From the resulting lineout Italy are penalised for offside at the maul, but the home side don’t need the penalty as they move the ball right neatly to Nash to score.
Harry Byrne converts.
Updated
75 mins. In an inevitable development, James Lowe has just been given Player of the Match
72 mins. Lowe, that man again, hits a hole off an inside pass and flies into the Italy half before offloading to Henderson. The platform looks set but this time Ireland are imprecise and lose possession.
68 mins. Capuozzo strides forward to jump, grab and rip a ball on halfway. Ireland are illegal at the breakdown but Italy muff the second lineout on the bounce from their own throw to lose the ball for the 1,285th time.
This has been an utterly awful performance by the visitors; nobody expected a win but this has been unforgivable dreck.
66 mins. Nothing of note in the past five minutes, I’m afraid. Game fizzling out hugely.
TRY! Ireland 29 - 0 Italy (James Lowe)
61 mins. I can’t find the words to describe latest method by which Italy mangle their own possession and give territory away. Suffice to say it was bloody stupid. The resulting Ireland ball is fed to Lowe out wide who turns on the gas to smash through three tackles and score with an outstretched arm. An outstanding finish – player of the match award to be confirmed soon.
Conversion is missed.
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YELLOW CARD! Tommaso Menoncello (Italy)
57 mins. Italy finally get some dynamic phases going with some zip on the passes before Lowe wanders into the line to snaffle the ball one-handed. He’s been a giant, comically haired pain in the Italian proverbial all afternoon and Menoncello reflects this frustration by legging the winger up as he runs past.
The yellow card pops out of Pearce’s pocket like a toaster such was the speed and ease of the decision to put the Azzuri centre in the bin.
55 mins. Henshaw forces over under pressure from Italian defenders. It’s given by Ref Pearce, but then suspicion of double movement causes the TMO to have a look. A couple of reviews of the footage confirms that he did crawl along the floor a bit to ground it. No try!
53 mins. Hugo Keenan gathers a kick and sprints into the Italian half, a position from which Ireland work the ball right then left to Sheehan who is denied a try by a massive Varney hit. The ball is still alive, though, and the carries keep coming for the Azzuri to defend.
TRY! Ireland 24 - 0 Italy (Dan Sheehan)
50 mins. Ireland catch and drive a linout that Italy do a horrible job of holding, which allows Sheehan to gambol over the line with little effort.
Crowley’s conversion effort fades to the right.
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48 mins. The next Italy possession has them coughing up the ball on first phase AGAIN, this time Zuliani unable to hold a Brex pass. The frustration becomes misery and the new prop Zilocchi is pinged at the scrum
45 mins. Italy complete a scrum! And then get a penalty because Ryan Baird had broken early to charge down Varney’s kick!
However, the warm fuzzy feeling this brings departs quickly as they drop the ball in contact again after the lineout and Lowe kicks one his long distance soul sappers miles behind the wingers, who have to turn and retrieve once more.
42 mins. James Lowe uses his left-foot cannon to fire the ball deep behind Garbisi who retrieves it and despatches to touch.
Giosue Zilocchi has replaced Pietro Ceccarelli in the front row as Italy attempt to change the scrum situation
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SECOND HALF!
We’re back in the game.
An entirely professional stomping from Ireland so far against an Italy team that can’t even muster a set-piece worth the name. Club mates Casey and Crowley have looked completely at ease in a dominant display of game management for a home side who are not even out of second gear yet are commanding every area of the match.
Italy need a functioning scrum and a new scrum-half to start the rebuild of their performance in the next forty.
HALF TIME!
40 mins. That’s yer lot for this half.
TRY! Ireland 19 - 0 Italy (Jack Conan)
38 mins. A tidy as you like catch and drive moves towards the Italy line, but the Azzuri defence repels a few drives before Conan eventually breaches the line from short metres.
Crowley adds the two.
Heartbreaker for Italy as a slight mishandling in a brilliant counter-ruck leads to 7 more points conceded in a matter of minutes.
Updated
35 mins. A busy pattern is run by Ireland off first phase, but it’s read brilliantly by the Italian defence and they counter-ruck with some force to win the ball, but there’s a fumble from Lamaro in the melee that provides another scrum to the home side.
Any scrum now is leads to an inevitable penalty to Ireland, and so it proves again, allowing Crowley to put it in the corner.
30 mins. Capuozzo makes a late cameo appearance in the half, accelerating through a gap and forcing a scrambling Baird to snag him. It looks a goo position for Italy, but the ball spills as he attempts to offload from the floor and from the resulting scrum Ireland win another penalty.
The Italian scrum has been real bad all half.
27 mins. Another ominous looking Ireland attack starts to gather momentum in the Italy half with some offloading to the fore. But James Lowe takes his run a little too far which isolates him and lets Fischetti in to nick the ball via a not releasing penalty.
TRY! Ireland 12 - 0 Italy (Dan Sheehan)
23 mins. A long time is taken to complete a scrum that has Italy is all sorts of trouble before the ball is released to the backs. Crowley executes a lovely no-look pop pass to Keenan to put his side in behind, working the ball left to Sheehan lurking on the wing to score.
Crowley converts.
Updated
18 mins. Italy’s first decent attacking platform takes the form of a lineout about 10 metres from the Ireland line. The ball is won, but the tap down is scrappy and by the time they tidy it up the Irish defence is organised and frustrating the attack to the point Varney decides to chip it away.
This was a good option, but Keenan returns with a belter of a kick from near his own touchline back into the Italy half, then Capuozzo boots a horrible cross-kick meant for Pani out on the full.
14 mins. Loosey-goosey from Crowley in the midfield allows his kick to be charged down on halfway, which prompts the the Italian players to maraud all over the retreating Ireland players and turn the ball over. The ball is worked left, but the home side scramble well to shut the door on the (slight) chance.
11 mins. A big hit from McCarthy dislodges Italian possession and this again has Ireland quickly returning to the opposition half. The ball goes loose from the back of a maul, but that was because it was deliberately knocked on by Zulani and the men in green are back in the Italy 5m zone from the penalty.
TRY! Ireland 5 - 0 Italy (Jack Crowley)
7 mins. Hugo Keenan decides it’s time to get his team on the front foot via a darting run from his 22 that puts Ireland on the attack in the Italy half. They zip the ball though some powerful and organised carries that eventually works the ball right to Crowley to move through a gap and score.
Crowley pulls the conversion low and wide. Appears it’s more tricky out there for kickers than it looks.
Updated
MISSED PENALTY! Ireland 0 - 0 Italy (Paolo Garbisi)
4 mins. From the lineout Italy have some pedestrian phases that are easily contained by Ireland, but Henshaw is then too keen at the ruck, loses his balance and is pinged for off feet.
Garbisi tees it up and drives it low in the strong breeze but pulls it just wide. Solid start from Italy, though.
2 mins. Doris claims the kick-off and Ireland recycle a couple of times before Crowley clears. Italy take a turn in running some phases before possession is booted away.
This pattern is repeated until Casey shanks one into touch in just inside the Ireland half.
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KICK OFF!
Paolo Garbisi kicks us underway
The teams file out of the tunnel, past the Six Nations trophy and out into a lovely sunny late winter day in Dublin. Superb conditions for it.
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Pre-match reading from the wider Six Nations cinematic universe
What do you make of the game that’s afoot? Let me know via email or on the infernal socials @bloodandmud
Teams
For all the talk of Italy being a tougher challenge now, this has not prevented Andy Farrell from making six changes, most of whom are big hitters. Peter O’Mahony, Bundee Aki, Tadhgs Beirne & Furlong and Jamison Gibson-Park are all out of the starting lineup.
Italy welcome back willowy wonder Ange Capuozzo who replaces Tommy Allan at fullback, while Stephen Varney is in a scrum half. There are few enforced changes in the pack as injuries to Sebastian Negri and Lorenzo Cannone bring in Alessandro Izekor and Manuel Zuliani to the back row and shift captain Michele Lamaro to Number 8.
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan; Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Finlay Bealham, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Caelan Doris (capt), Jack Conan.
Replacements: Ronan Kelleher, Jeremy Loughman, Tom O’Toole, Iain Henderson, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, Harry Byrne, Jordan Larmour
ITALY: Ange Capuozzo; Lorenzo Pani, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Montanna Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Pietro Ceccarelli, Niccolo Cannone, Federico Ruzza, Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zulani, Michele Lamaro (capt).
Replacements: Giacomo Nicotera, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosue Zilocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Ross Vintcent, Martin Page-Relo, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori
Preamble
Look, let’s be honest, on the face of it this is a difficult match to get too excited about. For a start, the result is more certain than Bradley Walsh’s son getting a presenting job he doesn’t deserve: Italy haven’t beaten Ireland in 14 previous attempts and have never managed to it Dublin. It’s not going to happen today, either.
So what to focus on to keep the interest in the next few hours? Well, Italy are a side transformed from that which capitulated in the Rugby World Cup; their combination of verve and pumped young forwards, as the England match proved, are always good value.
Ireland fans will look to Jack Crowley to cement the international aplomb with which he conducted affairs in the Marseille victory, as well as Caelan Doris’s burgeoning captaincy credentials.
It is easy to judge a game not worthy of your energy when the only factor up for debate is the margin of victory rather than the identity of the victor. But don’t be surprised if this turns out to be an interesting tussle – there’s enough ability out there in both teams to make this a good ‘un.
