Ireland v Italy – Six Nations live updates – The Irish Times

Ireland 19 Italy 0

45 mins: Quiet enough start to the second half. Italy get a rare foray into the Irish half but Lucchesi spills short of contact. Lowe, as always, puts in a booming clearance.

42 mins: Ireland nearly get in trouble as Italy turn them over on halfway. Henshaw though does well to block a pass wide on the overlap while Baird then charges down a kick.

A kick battle ensues, ending with an Ireland lineout just beyond the Italy 10m line.

Ireland go to the backs off the lineout. Nash makes the right decision to kick in behind but it doesn’t get the bounce, rolling dead instead of into touch just short of the ITalian line.

41 mins: Half-time is never long enough for us scribblers. Just like that, the team are back out. Ireland kick-off, Crowley the man with the honour. Lamaro gathers for Italy in his own 22. Varney clears but keeps it in, Keenan gathering just on the Italian side of halfway.

After the backline brilliance of the first two scores, the third was a good old fashioned forwards’ effort. A maul and then a series of pick-and-goes, Conan eventually forcing his way over.

There was the first Ireland try. For the sake of completeness, here is the first, scored by Crowley himself after brilliant attacking buildup from Keenan and Henshaw.

Ireland haven’t really gotten out of second gear. Despite some patchy early kicks and breakdown work, there have been enough moments of individual magic to open Italy up. None the more so than Crowley for the second try, his no-look pass starting it all off before his footwork and offloading kept the momentum going.

Some half-time stats for you.

Metres gained: Ireland 262 Italy 155

Turnovers won: Ireland 1 Italy 2

Tackles made: Ireland 63 Italy 102

Story of the game right there. Ireland dominant in possession and have spent far more time in the opposition’s 22. Italy’s defence, while brave and at times effective, is having to get through a lot of work. Ireland only really need to take a handful of their opportunities for scores to be well on top, and that’s exactly what they have done.

Half-time: Ireland 19 Italy 0

40 mins: More Ireland pressure. First of all Baird goes on a customary galloping run, courtesy of a tip pass from Doris. He gets into the Italian half, Casey then pins them into the 22 with an expert touchfinder. Italy look after the throw and get the ball off for half-time.

TRY JACK CONAN

Ireland have a third. The maul goes close with Dan Sheehan peeling just a touch early, the tackle hauling him down just short. After a few carries at the line, eventually Conan is the one to force his way over from close range.

Crowley converts well 15m in from touch.

35 mins: Italy are in big trouble at the scrum. That’s the third penalty they’ve given away there in quick succession. In front of the posts, Crowley turns down three and goes into the corner.

33 mins: Give Andrew Porter credit where it’s due. He came in for criticism for his scrummaging after the France game, but he’s just won a big penalty there. Crowley kicks down the line, finding touch close to the 22.

30 mins: Ireland are disrupting Varney’s kicking alright, this time McCarthy getting a hand on an attempt. Lowe does, though, give away a penalty for going off his feet at the breakdown. Italy can’t do anything with it, Baird pinching the following lineout.

28 mins: Frustration for Ireland. Offloads from Crowley and McCloskey get them on their way but the attack grinds to a halt inside the 22. Fischetti, the Italian loosehead, gets in over the ball to win a penalty.

TRY DAN SHEEHAN

Ireland have been a bit sluggish at times, but that is a cracking score. Off advantage following a scrum penalty, Crowley sells everyone a kipper with a no-look pass to Keenan. That gets Ireland over the gainline and from there they don’t stop. A few phases later, Crowley again and then Henshaw throw beautiful offloads, setting up McCloskey to send Sheehan over in the corner.

This time Crowley converts from out wide.

21 mins: CHARGE DOWN! Sheehan blocks Varney’s attempted clearance and then scrags Garbisi to ground inside the 22. Under pressure, Italy do well to ultimately hang on and clear their lines.

19 mins: McCarthy needs to be careful there, nearly decapitating Garbisi in the tackle. It ends up being a good, legal hit, but just. Under pressure, Varney grubbers in behind. Keenan gathers and clears. Capuozzo thinks he’s got Pani in space out wide, he does, the kick is definitely on but he overcooks it into touch. That would have been a one-on-one with Lowe if the kick was on the money.

17 mins: Ireland get caught with Garbisi running at frontrow forwards on the kick chase. He finds Capuozzo out wide and Porter, though he makes up the ground well to tackle, doesn’t release him on the floor, thinking it was a maul. Garbisi kicks the penalty into the 22.

15 mins: Lowe steps Lucchesi, the Italian hooker, brilliantly when running back a kick. However, Crowley’s kick is then charged down and Italy turn it over to get into the 22. After an initial break, Lowe comes flying out of the line and Ireland then flood the breakdown to win the ball back.

12 mins: The chance comes to nothing. Lowe and Casey get their wires crossed, Casey giving the pass too late with Garbisi already in the wing’s face. Lowe spills and Italy get a relieving scrum 5m from their own line.

10 mins: Ireland have their tail up now. McCarthy comes flying up out of the line to smash Garbisi backwards. Under pressure, Cannone goes off his feet and Crowley kicks the penalty up to the 22.

Ireland want a penalty off the lineout maul as an Italian hand blocks Doris’ hand. It’s a scrum initially, but it’s upgraded to a penalty for a deliberate knock. Crowley has no hesitation in turning down three in favour of the corner.

TRY JACK CROWLEY

After the initial breaks from Keenan and Henshaw, Ireland just go through the phases as they are wont. Once in the 22, Casey snipes down the short side, hits Crowley in stride and the Munster man coasts over from 10m out.

Aiming to convert his own kick… Crowley too shanks it wide. Strange start off the tee for both kickers.

6 mins: Ireland’s first spark of the game. Keenan taps a mark inside the 22 quickly and breaks to halfway. Phases later, Henshaw is about to give a scoring pass to Casey but it’s a fantastic tap-tackle from Menoncello to prevent the pass. Ireland still have it as they enter the 22.

4 mins: First shot at goal incoming. Henshaw thinks he’s counter-rucked legally, but Luke Pearce says his hands are on the floor.

Garbisi throws the grass into the wind to see if the wind will help him. He gives a reluctant nod to his skipper who points at the posts. 15m in from touch, right on the Irish 10m line… he’s shanked it. You could tell he was worried about the distance and it’s a terrible connection that barely gets 10m off the ground. Wide right.

3 mins: After a few minutes of each side carrying with little success, the first mistake comes from Ireland. Casey kicks out on the full and Italy have a lineout close to the 22.

1 min: We’re underway at the Aviva! Paolo Garbisi kicks off for Italy. Long the ball goes into the 22 where McCloskey gathers. Ireland play a phase before Crowley clears. Capuozzo keeps it in and runs it up to the Ireland 10m for the game’s first attack.

Early contender for player of the match: the kid from the Late Late Toy Show who sung Ireland’s Call.

He’s got the crowd going alright.

Kick-off is seconds away!

Listening to Luke Pearce talk to Michael D Higgins on the ref mic is very wholesome.

“This is Luc, it’s his first Six Nations game,” he says to the President in relation to Luc Ramos, the assistant referee.

Lovely.

Right then, here come the teams. Will the half a dozen changes to Ireland’s team affect cohesion? WIll Italy finally show off a kicking strategy capable of leaving them competitive? Who will win the battle of the wide attacks between the two sides who attacked down the flanks the most in round one?

First blood goes to Ireland. They lined up next to the red carpet where president Michael D Higgins will walk. Italy formed up 20 metres away and had to be hooshed into position.

A nice touch ahead of Michael D’s customary line of handshakes. There is a moment of applause at the Aviva for Dr Syd Millar, the former Ulster, Ireland and Lions prop.

Worth highlighting this. What a week for the Bealham clan. Finlay becomes a father earlier the week and starts a Test match today.

Just over 15 minutes to go until kick-off at the Aviva.

Next up in the preview content, we have Gerry Thornley’s profile of Joe McCarthy.

[ Joe McCarthy’s meteoric rise from Trinity lock to Ireland enforcer ]

“He was the enforcer right off the bat. He’s an incredible counter-rucker. He was also a penalty machine, and he still is a bit, and his brother is going to be just as good. That’s the scary thing.”

—  Joe McCarthy’s coach at Trinity, Tony Smeeth

Speaking of stats, if a deeper dive is your cup of tea, spare a few moments to read this.

Italy have been historically poor in this competition, to the tune of just one win in 42 Six Nations matches. But what is it that has made them so poor?

From problems to defending and attacking out wide to an inability to understand the importance of kicking well in modern rugby, you can read here a statistical and tactical anaylsis of the Italians’ shortcomings.

[ Ireland v Italy: Five areas of Italian weakness ahead of Sunday’s clash ]

One for the stattos ⬇️

“Our breakdown and lineout were outstanding last week, but that can get better. It can, and the proof is there for us to see. Paul [O’Connell, forwards coach] did a review/preview yesterday, and our breakdown was immense against France. But you’d come away from that five minutes thinking that we were rubbish in that area.”

—  Ireland head coach Andy Farrell.

Back to the rugby build-up. The above was Andy Farrell on the high standards Ireland set themselves, even after their impressive performance last time out in France. Farrell was quoted in Gerry Thornley’s match preview, which you can read here.

[ Ireland v Italy: Doris captains side as Farrell looks to cultivate leaders ]

A warning for those travelling to Lansdowne Road by Dart today. There will be delays on northbound services after a passenger took ill and required medical attention at Sandycove and Glasthule. The passenger was attended to by paramedics and taken into an ambulance.

The service is moving again but was held at Sandycove for roughly 30 minutes.

As for today’s visitors, Italy, they have made a number of changes to the side that ran England reasonably close – albeit never really threatening a win – in Rome last week.

Ange Capuozzo is back after recovering from illness, he starts at 15 in place of Tommy Allan despite the latter’s impressive work as a second playmaker and under the high ball vs England. At nine, Alessandro Garbisi’s somewhat underwhelming kicking display sees him drop out in place of Gloucester’s Stephen Varney.

In the forwards, just two changes – both injury-enforced – have been made by coach Gonzalo Quesada. Seb Negri, arguably Italy’s best ball-carrier, and Lorenzo Cannone have both been ruled out, meaning Alessandro Izekor and Manuel Zuliani come into the backrow. Izekor is young, but looks like he has the heft to fill some of the hole left by Negri. Captain Michele Lamaro has shifted from openside to number eight.

Italy: Ange Capuozzo; Lorenzo Pani, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane, Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney: Danilo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Pietro Ceccarelli, Niccolò Cannone, Federico Ruzza; Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zuliani, Michele Lamaro.

Replacements: Giacomo Nicotera, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosuè Zilocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Ross Vintcent, Martin Page-Relo, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.

We start with the team. This is the highest number of changes Farrell has made to an Ireland side from one Six Nations match to the next. Some of the new faces are no doubt injury-enforced. While no one appears to be a significant concern, there are a number of lumps and bruises following last Friday’s opener in Marseille and Farrell has opted to protect those, instead of force them through. If this was England away, rather than Italy at home, some of those faces may well have been risked.

A knee issue sees Bundee Aki drop out for Stuart McCloskey in midfield while Garry Ringrose hasn’t fully overcome his shoulder issue, meaning Robbie Henshaw continues at 13. Craig Casey starts to partner his Munster teammate Jack Crowley at halfback, Jamison Gibson-Park drops to the bench and Conor Murray out of the 23.

Finlay Bealham starts at tighthead with Tadhg Furlong given the week off due to a calf issue. Tadhg Beirne, Ireland and Munster’s perennial 80-minute man, is also given a breather meaning James Ryan starts at lock alongside last week’s player of the match Joe McCarthy. Captain Peter O’Mahony has also been given the week off with another gammy calf, meaning Ryan Baird gets a start his Leinster form probably deserves. Caelan Doris shifts to openside flanker and captains the side, with Jack Conan coming in at number eight.

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: Rónan Kelleher, Jeremy Loughman, Tom O’Toole, Iain Henderson, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, Harry Byrne, Jordan Larmour.

Good afternoon all and welcome to another day of Six Nations action. Even with the tournament up and running for over a week now, there is a back to school feel about today with Ireland playing their first game of the year at home.

Not only is this the Six Nations home opener, but it is the first time Ireland will play in Dublin since the World Cup. After a period of six weeks or so where team and country connected as well as any rugby side on this island has done in recent memory, it will be fascinating to see the reception awaiting Caelan Doris and co come 3pm today.

We’re about two hours away from kick-off at the Aviva, we’ll be using that time to go through the teams, preview the action and analyse what we can expect from Andy Farrell’s men.