Player ratings: Matteo Minozzi shines for Italy
Here are our Italy player ratings following their heavy 56-19 defeat to Ireland in Dublin.
15 Matteo Minozzi – Made a great try-saving tackle on Jacob Stockdale early on and was dangerous in attack throughout. The busy full-back helped set up Edoardo Gori's late try and also crossed for one himself in an impressive performance. Definitely Italy's star player. 9/10
14 Tommaso Benvenuti – An uncharacteristically quiet outing for wing Benvenuti as he struggled to get involved and was weak defensively. 4/10
13 Tommaso Boni – Much like last week against England, he became fractured from Italy's defensive line, which created doglegs aplenty in defence. This led to Keith Earls' try from Bundee Aki's line break. The strong runner was replaced with 53 minutes on the clock. 5/10
12 Tommaso Castello – Brilliantly set up Tommaso Allan's try after a great break and tried his heart out all game for the Azzurri. Again though his defensive combination with centre partner Boni was off key at the Aviva Stadium and that led to him missing four tackles. 6/10
11 Mattia Bellini – Like Minozzi he was busy with ball in hand but wing Bellini was also flaky on defence with five missed tackles. 6/10
10 Tommaso Allan – Unsurprisingly it was a fairly quiet outing for a fly-half on the back foot but he never gave in and supported well to pick up a try off the shoulder of Castello. 6/10
9 Marcello Violi – Did well to hold up Conor Murray over try line early on and was a calming presence at the base. Never easy for half-backs on days like this. 6/10
8 Sergio Parisse (c) – A poor looped pass to fly-half Allan on the wrap around cost Italy dear as Robbie Henshaw went over for his second try. While he emptied the tank, it was a tough afternoon at the office for the number eight. 5/10
7 Braam Steyn – He won't want to re-watch his knock-on at an attacking line-out as it was an awful mistake when uncontested in the air. Put in a shift defensively but could not halt the Ireland momentum. 5/10
6 Sebastien Negri – Much like Steyn he struggled to impact himself on the game and spent most of the day making tackles and hitting rucks. 5/10
5 Dean Budd – Saw little ball in attack and followed the Italian forward trend of racking up the tackles. 5/10
4 Alessandro Zanni – Won an impressive breakdown penalty against Stockdale and was also busy around the field, finishing with 14 tackles. 6/10
3 Simone Ferrari – Last week saw Italy give away sloppy penalties so to see a repeat of a leg being lifted at a maul was unforgivable. 5/10
2 Luca Bigi – Lost his first line-out after a poor throw but better thereafter. Was replaced on 44 minutes so had no chance to add to a solid tackle return of 12 hits. 5/10
1 Nicola Quaglio – Injured after head clash and was replaced. Unfortunate to have his day ended, especially after a collision with his own player. 5/10
Replacements:
16 Leonardo Ghiraldini – Nothing flash from Ghiraldini in another hard-working shift. 6/10
17 Andrea Lovotti – Put himself about for little reward. 6/10
18 Tiziano Pasquali – Nothing memorable of note to report from the replacement prop. 5/10
19 Federico Ruzza – A willing carrier in the closing stages. 6/10
20 Maxime Mata Mbanda – Impressed defensively in his 35 minutes on the field. 6/10
21 Edoardo Gori – Scrambled over for a try and in general was a positive substitution for Violi. 6/10
22 Carlo Canna – Did not play.
23 Jayden Hayward – A quality player who was a handful when he came on, making good metres with ball in hand. 7/10