Andy Farrell’s Ireland kept their dream of back-to-back Six Nations Grand Slam titles alive with an emphatic 36-0 victory over Italy this afternoon.
Ireland took the lead and Munster half-backs Craig Casey and Jack Crowley made some great interplay to break through Italy’s short side and the fly-half crossed for his first international try.
Fifteen minutes later, hooker Dan Sheehan grabbed Ireland’s second goal of the first half as the Irish attack stretched the Italian defense. The try itself was a great example of Ireland’s highly efficient attacking system, with the team running several blocker-style players, then some flashy footwork and offloading from Crowley, then Robbie Henshaw and Stuart Macro. Two more passes from Ski found Sheehan on the left touchline.
Scored Ireland’s 36th try.th In the minute, No. 8 Jack Connan buried himself under three Italian players and smashed the ball over the line from close range.
Ireland took nine minutes of the second half to earn a bonus point with Sheehan scoring his second goal of the afternoon, this time with a fine maul.
Six minutes later, Henshaw appeared to have scored Ireland’s fifth goal of the afternoon, but he was tackled and adjudged to have limped forward.
Things are about to get even worse for the Azzurri after center Tommaso Menonchero was sent to the sin bin for James Rowe’s trip.
Lowe will be a benefactor of the extra space created by Menoncello’s absence. He broke through the gap on the left flank and carried three Italians over the goal line.
Calvin Nash took the final breath with this performance, scoring 78 tries with his wing partner Lowe.th Minutes. The try was the Munster player’s second in two games so far in the competition as he looks to claim the jersey in the absence of Mack Hansen and Jimmy O’Brien.
In his post-match speech, Craig Casey made it clear that he felt the team had some things they could improve on.
“The goal was to get better and perform better on the field, but I don’t know if I completely achieved that.
“There were definitely parts that I was happy with, but it’s hard to say how good it was at the moment. We’ll look into it and analyze it this week.”
Casey turned to his Munster teammate Crowley and said he was delighted it was he who scored the fly-half his first international try.
“I’m really happy to be able to support Jack. He’s started the season really well. He’s got a chance to start for Ireland, but especially with him. He’s my roommate again this week, so it’s been great. Ta”.
It was clear that Casey wasn’t resting on his laurels as Farrell highlighted why he was so excited about his potential and work ethic.
“I don’t think it was perfect by any means, but I was happy with how calm we showed to bounce back from our mistakes.
“That’s one thing I was proud of this week. We knew everything wasn’t going to be perfect. Italy are a good team but international rugby is different.
“I’m happy with how I handled my mistakes. Hopefully, I showed my hand in some areas. I’d like to continue to show my hand.”
Expressing his thoughts on the result, Farrell remained calm and level-headed in his assessment of the performance.
“We’re very happy and we got what we wanted in the game, a bonus point win. “We’re very happy to keep it to nil and there were some great tries and some great individual performances. there were.
“We were a little bit awkward at times, but we’re tricky enough to play against them. They (Italy) have changed the way they play. They’re a little more pragmatic, different ways of getting the ball back. must be found.”
“Sometimes I thought we were trying to be too tidy and just adding a little bit of individual sparkle and playing around with the shapes when we broke them down. We need to back ourselves up a little more in that regard. Yes, we looked dangerous.”
We are now entering a rest period, and both teams hope to get back into shape before the next game. Ireland will be hosting an ever-improving Welsh side, who fell one point behind Scotland and two points down on England in their opening two matches.
Meanwhile, Italy face a struggling France side, but will be thanking the TMO gods that they escaped Edinburgh with a win in the second round.
Score: 5-0 Crowley try. 10-0 Sheehan tries. 12-0 Crowley Con. 17-0 Conan Try; 19-0 Crowley Con. 24-0 Sheehan tries. 29-0 Low tries. 34-0 Nash tries. 36-0 Burncon
Ireland: H Keenan (H Byrne 56), C Nash, R Henshaw (J Larmour 64), S McCloskey, J Rowe, J Crowley, C Casey (J Gibson Park 73). A. Porter (J. Ruffman 56), D. Sheehan (R. Kelleher 56), F. Bealham (T. O’Toole 56), J. McCarthy, J. Ryan (I. Henderson 61), R. Baird (J. Van der Flier 66), C. Doris, J. Conan
Italy: A. Capozzo, L. Pani (F. Mori 58), JI Brex, T. Menoncello, M. Ioane, P. Garbisi, S. Varney (M. Page Lillo 58). D Fischetti (M Spagnolo 56), G Lucchesi (G Nicotella 56), P Ceccarelli (G Girocchi 40), N Cannone, F Luzza, A Izecole, M Zuliani (R Vincent 70), M Ramaro.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)