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One down, one down for Ireland, which rose to the top of the Six Nations table with a routine bonus point win over Italy with Hugo Keenan and Will Connors scoring try on their debut.
However, if Andy Farrell’s team is to be crowned champions next Saturday, they will likely need a first win with bonus points in Paris and, given Ireland’s record outside of France, it’s a big task ahead of them.
They finished with seven attempts in total, but can live to regret allowing Italian Paolo Garbisi in death. His 33 margin of victory was slightly below his average at home in Italy for the past four years, but that’s understandable given the time that had passed since his last outing.
However, if they defeat France without a bonus point, England will likely end up being the champion. Ireland’s points difference is now 23 better than England’s and even without their warm-up against the Barbarians on Sunday, Eddie Jones would like to improve that by a sufficient margin in Rome.
“The point difference might not be enough now, if we had gotten another score or not conceded at the end, maybe we could have put a little pressure on England,” Ireland captain Jonny Sexton said. “Now we may have to check and score four. 50-17, if you had offered me that earlier in the day, I would have broken your hand. But we’re going to Paris with everything really to do. “
It was a discreet resumption of the competition, seven and a half months from the previous match, but Ireland’s victory prepares the final next week very well.
Against a young team from Italy, Ireland rarely struggled, trotting in second gear for the most part. They found favor with referee Matthew Carley in the breakup, which barely made for much of a show, but ensured that the home forwards had fun, Caelan Doris in particular impressed.
For Italy it’s a 26th consecutive Six Nations defeat and a mountain of work to do to get into a position where they can be competitive in matches like this. They managed at least two attempts through Edoardo Padovani and the 20-year-old Garbisi, after all, already failed to score twice in this year’s competition, and started on the front foot after a powerful break through the middle from Jake. Polledri. A penalty in front of the posts for Garbisi and a yellow card for Conor Murray for a cynical infraction.
Never mind for Ireland – they responded with the first attempt with Murray still off the field as CJ Stander fought his way from close range before Sexton added a penalty. Garry Ringrose was forced to retire with a head injury, but his replacement Robbie Henshaw threw a long pass down the left to Keenan, who did well to finish in the corner. Two minutes later he thought he had another one, after a good break from Jacob Stockdale, who looked safe as a fullback, but James Ryan was judged to have blocked Marco Lazzaroni in preparation.
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Just three minutes passed when Keenan landed his second: the group’s pick after a delightfully timed kick to Murray’s corner. Ireland were slow in the third quarter, as shown when Padovani intercepted Sexton’s pass on an interception attempt, but when Connors passed in the 61st minute, both Sexton and Bundee Aki, following a good volley from Peter O’Mahony. , they soon followed. Dave Heffernan’s converted try in the last minute brought Ireland to their half century, but Italy responded with a good shot from Garbisi.
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