Ireland 16
Italy 9
Rory Keane reports from the Olympic Stadium
IRELAND SECURED THEIR place in the World Cup quarter-finals with a hard-fought 16-9 victory over Italy at the Olympic Stadium.
Joe Schmidt said earlier in the week he would happily celebrate a two-point Irish victory on Sunday evening. In the end, Ireland came away with a one-score win and the squad will breathe a collective sigh of relief to have come away with that following a ferocious arm wrestle in Stratford.
Schmidt’s side were certainly tested by a fired-up Azzurri outfit with the likes of openside Simone Favaro and centre Michele Campagnaro leading Italy’s defensive line superbly.
Peter O’Mahony’s cover tackle on Josh Furno in the second-half was a crucial moment as Keith Earls’ first half try and three Jonathan Sexton penalties secured the win.
The Azzurri were dealt an early blow with their experienced centre Gonzalo Garcia hobbling off in the third minute with Tommaso Benvenuti taking his place.
Sexton sparked Ireland into life with superb midfield break forcing the Azzurri offside. The Leinster No 10 stepped up to land his first points of the afternoon to secure an early 3-0 lead.
Some of Ireland’s early attacking play was poor as Sexton saw his chip kick charged down while Robbie Henshaw’s inside pass to Dave Kearney went astray.
Jamie Heaslip was penalised for hands in the ruck allowing Tommasso Allan to level it up at 3-3 in the 14th minute.
Conor Murray nudged a lovely chip kick into the corner to keep the pressure on Italy and, from the resulting lineout, Peter O’Mahony rose high to effect the lineout steal. Ireland then powered through the phases with Iain Henderson making a huge carry over the advantage line. That set the platform for Sexton to work a lovely switch play with Henshaw who showed great strength to offload to the onrushing Earls to cross.
Sexton fired over the conversion as Earls celebrated becoming Ireland’s all-time try scorer at a World Cup breaking Brian O’Driscoll’s record of seven.
Ireland lead was cut to four pints soon after as Paul O’Connell was penalised for not rolling away allowing Allan to make it 10-6 from the tee.
Sexton had the opportunity to increase Ireland’s lead in the 31st minute but his 40-metre penalty bounced off the upright before Sergio Parisse snuffed out the danger.
Ireland went hunting for a further score but found a stern wall of Italian defenders greeting them at every phase. Earls burst through Campagnaro on the stroke of half-time but his intended offload to Kearney sailed into touch as Ireland headed into the sheds holding a slender 10-6 half-time lead.
Italy hooker Andrea Manici was hooked by Jacques Brunel at the break. The Azzurri No 2 paying for two overthrown lineouts in the first half as Davide Glazzon entered the fray.
Ireland had O’Mahony to thank in the 48th minute when the Munster flanker pulled off a superb covering tackle on Furno in the corner. Italy were denied a sublime try with the Azzurri lock’s foot grazing the touchline as he crashed over.
All the momentum was with Italy as a surging driving maul yielded another penalty opportunity for Allan, who trimmed Ireland’s lead to 10-9.
Sexton settled Irish nerves with a 57th minute but this was getting a little too close for comfort as Schmidt sent on Cian Healy to add his bulk to a ferocious contest.
Allan was pinged for not rolling away after Earls had trucked it up in midfield allowing Sexton to make it 16-9 on the hour mark.
Parisse left the field to a rapturous reception in the 64th minute. The Italy captain had no more left to give following a monstrous shift from the Stade Francais number eight.
The slugfest showed no signs of abating with substitute fly-half Carlo Canno, who replaced the excellent Allan, shanking a 66th minute penalty effort.
O’Mahony was sent to the sin-bin in the 71st minute for dangerous play at the ruck ensuring a nervy finish.
Sexton showed admirable composure to drill a low touch-finder into the corner to keep the rampant Italians pinned into their ’22.
With the clock winding down, replacement scrum half Guglielmio Pazzani obstructed Tommy Bowe, who was chasing Conor Murray’s box-kick, handing Sexton a chance to secure the victory. His touchline effort dropped short on the left handing Italy one more chance to attack.
But Ireland survived with Sexton booting the ball out to end a stern examination in east London.
Qualification secured. Onwards to Cardiff to face the French. Big improvements will needed for that one…
Ireland scorers:
Tries: Earls
Conversions: Sexton [1]
Penalties: Sexton [3]
Yellow Card: O’Mahony ’71
Italy scorers:
Tries:
Conversions:
Penalties: Allan [3]
Ireland: Simon Zebo; Tommy Bowe, Keith Earls (Luke Fitzgerald ‘75), Robbie Henshaw, Dave Kearney; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack McGrath (Cian Healy ’58), Rory Best (Sean Cronin ‘69), Mike Ross (Nathan White ‘58); Iain Henderson (Devin Toner ‘67), Paul O’Connell; Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien (Chris Henry ‘67), Jamie Heaslip
Replacements not used: Eoin Reddan, Ian Madigan
Italy: Luke McLean; Leonardo Sarto, Michele Campagnaro, Gonzalo Garcia (Tommaso Benvenuti ‘3), Giovanbattista Venditti, Tommaso Allan (Carlo Canna ‘64), Edoardo Gori (Guglielmo Palazzani ‘75); Matias Aguero (Michele Rizzo ‘61), Andrea Manici (Davide Glasson ‘HT), Lorenzo Cittadini; Quintin Geldenhuys, Josh Furno; Francesco Minto, Simone Favaro (Mauro Bergamasco ‘67), Sergio Parisse (Alessandro Zanni ‘64)
Replacements not used: Dario Chistolini,