Lifeless Ireland indebted to bench’s rescue act as they edge past improving Italy

Jamison Gibson-Park and Jack Crowley came on to help a struggling Ireland side to a barely-deserved 20-13 victory over Italy in the second round of the Six Nations Championship.

In a pretty lifeless first half from the hosts, Sam Prendergast struggled to get them going as the Azzurri took a 10-5 advantage into the interval.

Although Jack Conan levelled matters, the Irishmen were still failing to find their rhythm. That was until the arrival of the replacement half-backs, who gave them much more fluidity with ball in hand.

They managed to string together a couple of fine moves, which resulted in a try for Rob Baloucoune and a penalty for Crowley.

It still wasn’t entirely convincing as Italy, who backed up their Scotland win with another impressive display, reduced the arrears via a Paolo Garbisi three-pointer and then pressed for a later leveller, but it was Ireland who held on to open their Six Nations account.

Better start from Ireland before Italy take command

Andy Farrell’s team went into the game under severe pressure following their spate of poor results and performances, but they didn’t show it early on.

Having been criticised for going away from the principles which have served them so well, they certainly looked to move the ball more before going to the box-kick.

It was a formula which worked relatively well in the first quarter as they dominated possession. Their aerial work was much better, and it enabled the hosts to find their runners, leading to some half-decent openings, but they were quite often spoiled by Prendergast’s poor option-taking.

Unfortunately for the hosts, they were unable to truly take advantage, but the pressure exerted resulted in Louis Lynagh going for a speculative intercept.

He duly knocked on and was yellow-carded as a result, giving Ireland another opportunity to get into the Azzurri 22. And despite some stubborn Italian defence, they were eventually breached as Stuart McCloskey’s offload found Osborne, who did the rest.

Farrell’s outfit could not build on that score, however, as Italy then took command. Lorenzo Pani signalled their intent with a lovely kick over the top before a Garbisi penalty reduced the arrears.

The visitors also began to make their scrum and set-piece dominance count, forcing the Irishmen to infringe with regularity.

They soon received a yellow card of their own when Craig Casey was too upright in the tackle, leading to head-to-head contact with Lorenzo Cannone.

With their opponents down to 14 men, Italy immediately took advantage as a driving maul went towards the line and was touched down by Giacomo Nicotera for a five-point half-time buffer.

It was a lead they very much deserved, but it was wiped out at the start of the second period when they switched off at the restart.

Ireland earned a penalty, kicked to the corner, and after a few phases, Conan excellently finished to level the scores.

The next 15 minutes then produced some helter-skelter rugby with both sides going at full throttle. One such thrilling attack saw Tommaso Menoncello break through and send Lynagh across the whitewash, but it was pulled back for a forward pass after a TMO review.

It ultimately took Crowley’s introduction, who entered to huge cheers, to change the course of the match. Immediately, Ireland looked far more fluid in attack, and they constructed a beautiful move which ended in Baloucoune touching down.

The fly-half converted and then added a three-pointer to move his side 10 points ahead. It was a lead that would prove insurmountable for the Italians, despite Garbisi’s second three-pointer, as the hosts secured a tense victory.

The teams

Ireland: 15 Jamie Osborne, 14 Robert Baloucoune, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Craig Casey, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Caelan Doris (c), 6 Cormac Izuchukwu, 5 James Ryan, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Tom Clarkson, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Jeremy Loughman
Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Tom O’Toole, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Edwin Edogbo, 20 Tadhg Beirne, 21 Nick Timoney, 22 Jamison Gibson-Park, 23 Jack Crowley

Italy: 15 Lorenzo Pani, 14 Louis Lynagh, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Leonardo Marin, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Michele Lamaro (c), 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 Federico Ruzza, 20 Riccardo Favretto, 21 David Odiase, 22 Alessandro Garbisi, 23 Paolo Odogwu

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley (RFU), Luc Ramos (FFR)
TMO: Ian Tempest (RFU)
FPRO: Tual Trainini (FFR)

READ MORE: Ireland v Italy: Result, match details, stats, line-ups