One miss: Jonathan Sexton
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Ireland warmed up for next weekend's fixture against France by recording a professional 42-10 victory over Italy at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Declan Kidney's side took their time to pull away from the Azzurri but ultimately crossed five times, two of which coming from wing Tommy Bowe.
They next play France in the re-arranged fixture after it was called-off at the last minute a fortnight ago. Italy remain pointless after three defeats.
Ireland had lost their last three outings at the Aviva Stadium and twice turned down shots at goal in favour of going for the maximum as they looked to make a point against their visitors, who took the lead through a penalty from fly-half Tobias Botes.
Sexton replied soon after and then Ireland crossed for their first try of the day following a well-worked move that saw centre Keith Earls dive in.
Italy could have reduced the arrears had Botes been successful from the tee but did find joy when Sergio Parisse crossed under the uprights, with Botes knocking over the simple extras for what looked like the last score of the half.
But that proved not to be the case as Italy were floored when Bowe went over for his first of the game before Sexton made it 17-10 at the break. In truth, neither side had earned a lead.
Upon the turnaround, Sexton added another six points as the Irish established a thirteen-point lead before the home side cut loose, denying Italy any points in the second stanza.
Excellent hands from the impressive Sexton sent Bowe over for his brace as holes began to open in Italy's defence, with Tom Court and Andrew Trimble adding final nails to the coffin.
Man of the match: But for a last-minute miss, Jonathan Sexton was on the money with all of his attempts at goal on Saturday. He added to solid kicking with an assured performance.
Moment of the match: A first international try for Tom Court. The Ulster loosehead prop powered over from all of two metres in Dublin, with his team-mates delighted for him.
Villain of the match: Nothing to report.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Tries: Earls, Bowe 2, Court, Trimble
Con: Sexton 4
Pen: Sexton 3
For Italy:
Tries: Parisse
Con: Botes
Pen: Botes
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell (c), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Peter O'Mahony, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Fergus McFadden.
Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Tobias Botes, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (c), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Fabio Staibano, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Fabio Semenzato, 21 Kris Burton, 22 Gonzalo Canale.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Comments
J_HDK says...
hermes...,kicking away posession from you own half 80% of the time just leads tio a counterattack.
Sexton was excellent today as was Kearney. Murray was, dreadful urwet again. Painfully slow.hopefully this will finally rule him out of the squad until he has developed. Currently my fourth choice scrum half.
Posted 20:12 25th February 2012
macte says...
Ireland scored every time they chose to.
So many nice solid runs by the centres, a joy to watch.
Italy's defence, both collective and individual, is shameful. I never thought they could have worsen so quickly, and its just Brunel's third game!
Ireland won when they scored their second try, just before halftime. The game was over thanks to another mistake by Masi (how many this year?): he didn't trust Zanni and tackled the wrong Irish leaving Bowe all alone.
Posted 19:58 25th February 2012
praetorian says...
Just stopped watching the match after 60 minutes. Ireland has something that hurts Italy so much, more than France, England, anyone else.
I like their centers, running in unusual horizontal lines that suddenly cut through the defense like Automan (anyone remembers?), turning 90° degrees at full speed. I noticed this especially with BOD, Bowe did it repeatedly today.
Poor kicking has a big impact on our performances. Not just the valuable points lost, also players must feel like they are not going to win, no matter what.
On the positive side I insist that Barbieri should be given more balls. He is like a rhino, can run with opponents attached. That could create superiority (apologies I don't know the English word for this) as our backs are not quick enough on their own.
Posted 19:05 25th February 2012
Carpelone says...
Decent game from Ireland, horrible second half from Italy.
As such, you can not decipher if Ireland were good or Italy bad.
Kearney had a very good performance.
Disagree on Joubert, he had an excellent game today, which makes his performance at the RWC final even more incredible.
At last, a game played in good spirit between those two teams.
Posted 19:01 25th February 2012
Hermes says...
Sexton had a very good game. I will get that in there before someone jumps down my throat. But he is putting Ireland under a lot of pressure by not playing field position in our own half. I realms need to put the ball behind teams and relieve pressure. Until he does this the ogara question is still there.
Posted 18:37 25th February 2012
Viriato says...
Crushing and irrefutable defeat for Italy, but the refere was hallucinating.. Italy will find a decent fly half sonner than later and then we can fight tooth and nail.
Keep going on and on..
Posted 18:27 25th February 2012
melkdave says...
Well Italy just imploded didnt keep the ball in hand kicked from hand really pootlyand again need someone to kick the penalties Botes isnt a kicker thats for certain How they are missing Mi .Bergmasco i know he isnt a great kicker but he at least makes a good percentage of his penalties. As to Ireland alot better peformance but imo still not really clicking as you would expect and need more improvment if they are to threaten for the championship but a good start
Posted 16:15 25th February 2012