Ireland moved to the top of the NatWest 6 Nations table after running in eight converted tries against Italy in front of a capacity crowd at the Aviva Stadium.
Robbie Henshaw and Jacob Stockdale scored two tries apiece, although the former’s suspected dislocated shoulder and Tadhg Furlong’s early departure meant the bonus point victory came at a cost. The tighthead’s hamstring injury did give Andrew Porter a chance to impress on his Six Nations debut and he turned in a thoroughly efficient performance, a ‘Herculean’ one according to Joe Schmidt.
Henshaw’s 10th-minute try put Ireland on course for a 28-0 half-time lead, with his centre partner Bundee Aki opening his international try account and Munster duo Conor Murray and Keith Earls taking their Ireland try tallies to 11 and 27 respectively. Earls bagged the bonus point five minutes before the break.
Henshaw, who injured himself in the act of scoring his second try, and Ireland captain Rory Best added further seven-pointers, with a Jacob Stockdale brace making it six tries in six Tests for the Ulster youngster. Jonathan Sexton, the drop goal hero last week, and Joey Carbery kicked five and three conversions respectively.
However, there remains plenty of room for improvement, particularly in defence as Ireland leaked three second half tries to Italian backs Tommaso Allan, Edoardo Gori and Matteo Minozzi. Tougher tests lie ahead, beginning with Wales’ visit to Dublin in a fortnight’s time, and head coach Schmidt was mindful of this when assessing the display afterwards.
“You do feel that you’ve a chance (of winning the Six Nations) when you can get those first two wins, especially with an away win first up. We haven’t lost a Six Nations game at home in the five years I’ve been involved. There’s a real benchmark there that we can hopefully defend,” he said.
“We probably had a couple of knock-backs injury-wise today. So it’s a bit of a wait and see, really. But if you’d said to me two weeks ago you’d have nine points and a 39-point differential, I’d have bitten your hand off.
“We do feel that we’ve gained a bit of confidence that we’re heading in the right direction. Wales will be a whole different scenario. They are very attacking as a defensive side and they squeeze you and force errors.”
Ireland wore back armbands as a mark of respect to Ultan Dillane’s mother Ellen who sadly passed away on Monday. With four changes to the starting pack, Schmidt handed first Six Nations starts to back rowers Dan Leavy and Jack Conan, while Porter and Quinn Roux were both sprung from the bench for their Championship bows and there was also a first cap for 20-year-old flyer Jordan Larmour.
The men in green showed an eagerness to run the ball almost straight from the kick-off, Henshaw, Peter O’Mahony and the excellent Earls all getting an early chance to stretch their legs before Stockdale’s chip through on the left was well defended by Italian full-back Minozzi.
Furlong injured his hamstring in pursuit of Tommaso Boni, forcing Ireland’s first change after just three minutes as the 22-year-old Porter entered the fray. Italy countered from a quickly-taken lineout soon after and Jack McGrath had to react smartly to bring down the dangerous Minozzi as he threatened to split the home defence.
Devin Toner then swatted an Italian lineout loose and Leavy was first to the ball on the deck, launching a series of phases which saw Aki and Stockdale stretch the visitors’ defence. Eventual man-of-the-match Conor Murray was held up, but from the resulting scrum, and thanks to an important clear-out by Conan on his opposite number Sergio Parisse, possession was retained and Henshaw took a hard line onto a Murray pass to score just to the left of the posts.
Sexton converted and also nailed his next kick wide on the left after some fine interplay near the touchline released Murray for his 13th-minute score. Prop McGrath did well to dive on a loose ball past halfway, and with the Italian defence caught narrow, lovely hands from Earls, Stockdale and Conan, who drifted inside and popped the ball back outside to the supporting Murray, moved Ireland into a 14-0 lead.
It was not all plain sailing, as Italy were making some good reads in defence and forcing fumbles or loose passes from the likes of Aki and Rob Kearney. However, Ireland ended the opening quarter in the Italian 22 after Sexton’s dabbed kick had set up a lineout opportunity. Best broke off the maul and was hauled down short before another inviting pass from Murray saw Aki bash his way over past two defenders. Sexton converted again for 21-0.
An incisive passing move off a lineout, with Murray, Aki and Sexton all involved, soon sent Henshaw scurrying a gap and he was stopped within five metres of the line. Despite their penalty count rising to five, Italy held out at a close-in scrum and two successive lineouts before Sexton’s grubber through for Earls had too much on it.
The bonus point score arrived a few minutes later, Leavy forcing a turnover at the breakdown and Aki’s dummy and acceleration in between Luca Bigi and Boni seeing him tee up Earls to go over untouched in the right corner. Sexton kept up his 100% record with the boot, and Italy blew a gilt-edged chance to respond late on when Braam Steyn lost a lineout ball forward, seven metres out from the Irish whitewash.
CJ Stander and Roux were introduced for the start of the second period, and just three minutes in, Henshaw intercepted an attempted wraparound pass from Parisse and raced over from the Italian 10-metre line. Disappointingly, the shine was taken off his second try as he damaged his shoulder in the act of scoring, as Tommaso Benvenuti caught up with him in a last-ditch tackle.
After a lengthy stoppage before the Athlone man was helped off, Sexton’s fifth successful conversion was followed by Larmour’s introduction on the wing with Earls moving into midfield alongside Aki. The footwork of the latter pair was prominent in the build-up to Ireland’s next scoring chance, and unfortunately referee Romain Poite got in the way of O’Mahony’s pass for the onrushing Kearney who looked to be clean through.
As the Irish forwards set up camp in the visitors’ 22, Stockdale increased his threat out wide and Italy’s penalty count continued to rise. Best threw into a five-metre lineout and retrieved possession from a drive which shifted off to the left, and with Roux providing timely support, the hooker dotted down for recent entrant Carbery to convert.
Italy responded with a classy try via their back-line, Tommaso Castello showing impressive pace to break in between Leavy and Stockdale and he fed Allan to finish off to the right of the posts and convert for a 42-7 scoreline. But Ireland hit the hour mark with another try on the board, the maul doing the initial damage before Toner’s well-timed pass out the back and an equally inviting delivery from Carbery sent Stockdale diving over to the right of the posts for a seven-pointer.
The closing quarter saw Italy find joy in the outside channels, Minozzi jinking past Larmour on a kick return over halfway and linking with his skipper Parisse whose pass back inside went loose but replacement scrum half Gori was there to gobble it up and scramble over the line for a 65th minute try, converted by Allan.
It was Stockdale who got Ireland past the half-century mark four minutes later, intercepting a pass from a quick Italian tap and finishing expertly from 70 metres out. He beat Jayden Hayward on the outside through sheer acceleration. Carbery drew over the conversion to make it eight out of eight for the Irish place-kickers.
Italy still showed plenty of spark in attack, though, and as Ireland let their defence and discipline lapse, two pinpoint passes from Benvenuti and Hayward – the first a raking effort from midfield – freed up Minozzi to score in the left corner past Larmour.
Ireland came hunting for a ninth try in the final minutes, two sumptuous sidesteps from Larmour seeing him fly up into the 22, but Carbery was intercepted by Mattia Bellini and Earls drew one of the biggest cheers of the day when he chased down the Italian winger in determined fashion to prevent the breakaway score.
Commenting on today’s injury toll and the current fitness of both Garry Ringrose (ankle) and Sean O’Brien (hip), Schmidt explained: “We’ll know post-scan tomorrow (about Robbie), we’ve got a scan booked for him tomorrow. He looked in a fair bit of discomfort coming off. He’s a lot more comfortable now which is promising, but what’s not promising is the degree of discomfort he was in.
“Tadhg felt a tightening on deceleration – for a tighthead prop he probably just moves a little bit more quickly than he should and as a result, he felt a bit of tightening. We will check him out tomorrow, it will give us a better picture but we would be hopeful that he will still be okay in two weeks’ time.
“Jack Conan just took a dunt on the shoulder and we replaced him at half-time. The shoulder is being checked out but we hope it’ll be okay. We will see how that looks over the next week.
“Garry (Ringrose) is making really good progress. Next weekend might just be one weekend too soon but he’s not far away and potentially next weekend. Again, it might be the weekend after. For him to come back off an injury lay-off and come straight back in and play against Wales, that would be tough call but it’s a call we’re happy to make based on Garry’s contributions in the last Six Nations and other times he’s played.
“He was superb in the summer tour and he’s such an intelligent player that he adds value when he does come into the side, so that would be one alternative if Robbie is unavailable, which we suspect he potentially will be.
“Sean (O’Brien) is trucking along pretty well. We have a few other loose forwards we need to look at and Sean O’Brien is automatically one of those based on what he’s contributed over the last few years. He is making pretty good progress, so we will get an update on Sean during the week and he may well come into the squad prior to the Wales match.”
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