Ireland 33
Italy 17
AH, THE OLD World Cup warm-up. That partially exciting, partially dreaded beast. This one just about ticked all the usual boxes.
Injury worries? A few of them. Promising signs? Plenty. Frustrating moments and a fair bit to work on? Check.
Among the concerns on the injury front is number eight Jack Conan, who was wearing a protective moon boot after being replaced a few minutes before half time. There was fullback Jimmy O’Brien, forced off at half time after apparent shoulder trouble in the first half. And scrum-half Craig Casey departed early in the second, although it wasn’t obvious if it was an injury. We await updates on all.
The best bits from Ireland were five tries, most of them constructed and finished from close-range, while the fifth was a beauty of a sweeping passage featuring some of the slick passing Andy Farrell’s team have become renowned for.
The outstanding player of the match Caelan Doris finished that one as he bagged a brace, while Dave Kilcoyne, Stuart McCloskey, and Cian Healy all dotted down too.
There were three debuts for Ireland, always a welcome sight. Ciarán Frawley got 40 minutes at out-half after O’Brien’s injury and it was interesting that starting number 10 Jack Crowley was the one to move to fullback. He had been controlling the game nicely.
Ulster hooker Tom Stewart and Munster wing Calvin Nash also earned their first Ireland caps as Farrell continued to look at options for his final 33-man World Cup squad, which will be announced on 28 August after a further two warm-up games against England and Samoa. This encounter gave him plenty of food for thought.
22-year-old Joe McCarthy was good on his first Test start, offering real punch in contact, while scrum-half Casey was excellent in his 45-minute stint and Crowley looked sharp at out-half.
Captain Iain Henderson was prominent and physically strong, while O’Brien was lively at fullback before he was forced off. It was Doris who stole the show, though, delivering a brilliant performance in the number seven shirt to demonstrate that he can perform any back row role required of him. He really is a complete rugby player.
On his return to Test rugby for the first time since 2021, left wing Jacob Stockdale got lots of touches and made some big plays as well as a couple of errors. His intent to impact the game was what Farrell would have wanted to see.
But the Irish boss looked rather stressed on a few occasions when the coach cam flashed to him in the second half, no doubt because of some of the aforementioned injury concerns but also the decline in Ireland’s performance after the break.
There is plenty for Farrell to take issue with. There were scrum penalty concessions and forwards coach Paul O’Connell has lots of work to do on the maul set-up accuracy, with more penalties coughed up there.
Ireland were guilty of forcing a few passes and dropping the ball on occasion. Discipline might also come up in the review. Though it’s understandable for errors to be made on the opening night of this campaign, we know that Farrell simply doesn’t accept low standards from his players.
There was the frustration of conceding a first-phase try, while Tommaso Menoncello scored a little too easily too. It leaves Ireland with a busy week ahead as they depart for a training camp in Portugal. They’re back in match action on 19 August against England in Dublin and Farrell will want much better.
It took Ireland a while to get into their stride, but loosehead prop Kilcoyne barged his way over 13 minutes into the game to put Ireland ahead after Tommaso Allan had slotted the opening points of the game for Italy.
Kilcoyne’s score came from a five-metre tap penalty, with the Munster man picking from close range and benefiting from the latching of Doris, Conan, and Ryan Baird to dot down for a try Crowley converted from the left of the posts.
There were a few close calls in the next 10 minutes, none more agonising than O’Brien being denied by a matter of inches. The chance came from Stockdale’s brilliant aerial regather of a Casey box kick, with Stuart McCloskey then sweeping the ball wide to the right, where Baird’s brilliant catch-pass gave Keith Earls time to grubber ahead. O’Brien was just beaten in the race for the ball as it bobbled in the Italian in-goal area.
But Ireland had their second before the half-hour mark and just after Italian loosehead Danilo Fischetti was sin-binned for tackling the quick-tapping Casey in an offside position. Ireland went into the right corner and a clever maul shift drive allowed Doris to finish, with Crowley adding an impressive extra two points from out on the right.
Ireland’s phase-play attack was flowing in a slicker fashion by now but still, there were another couple of misses in the Italian 22 as the visitors struggled to make a real imprint on the game.
McCloskey bagged the third Irish score a few minutes before the break, having helped create an opening for Doris to light up Italy scrum-half Stephen Varney in a tackle close to the Italian line. Doris and Henderson counter-rucked to turn the ball over, and McCloskey scooped it up to dive over.
Crowley’s conversion gave Ireland a 21-3 lead that held into the interval after Baird’s lineout steal denied Italy a chance to response.
Farrell and co. would have been frustrated with their players’ showing in the 10 minutes after the break as a couple of sloppy moments of handling and discipline invited Italy to come back into the game.
Kieran Crowley’s team took advantage, with a sweeping first-phase attack from a left-hand side maul luring Ireland’s backline defence infield and giving replacement wing Lorenzo Pani the time and space to fend Stockdale on his way over. Allan converted.
When Ireland’s maul was then turned over five metres out, a restlessness seemed to envelop the Dublin crowd, but replacement second row Tadhg Beirne did his best to seize momentum with a characteristic jackal turnover penalty win. It proved to be an important moment, with Ireland’s fourth try arriving soon after.
McCarthy made another big carry in the build-up and then sub loosehead Healy fought over from a metre out with help from Stewart, a fitting reward as Healy became the joint third-most capped Ireland player alongside Rory Best on 124.
But that wasn’t to be the sign of a smooth finish for Ireland, with Italy soon grabbing their second try. This time, centre Menoncello showed his power to barge right through the missed tackle of Earls, who had moved into midfield when Nash came on.
Ireland’s best try of the night followed as they swept the ball down the left through the hands of Crowley and Earls before sub back row Cian Prendergast, who had replaced Conan, burst through the middle and threw a sumptuous one-handed offload. A couple of phases later, Doris surged over for his second.
Happily, there were no other injury issues as Ireland saw out their win.
Ireland scorers:
Tries: Dave Kilcoyne, Caelan Doris [2], Stuart McCloskey, Cian Healy
Conversions: Jack Crowley [3 from 4], Ciarán Frawley [1 from 1]
Italy scorers:
Tries: Lorenzo Pani, Tommaso Menoncello
Conversions: Tommaso Allan [2 from 2]
Penalties: Tommaso Allan [1 from 1]
IRELAND: Jimmy O’Brien (Ciarán Frawley ‘HT); Keith Earls, Robbie Henshaw (Calvin Nash ’62), Stuart McCloskey, Jacob Stockdale; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey (Caolin Blade ’46); Dave Kilcoyne (Cian Healy ’52), Rob Herring (Tom Stewart ’52), Tom O’Toole (Tadhg Furlong ’52); Iain Henderson (captain) (Tadhg Beirne ’56), Joe McCarthy; Ryan Baird, Caelan Doris, Jack Conan (Cian Prendergast ’36).
ITALY: Tommaso Allan; Paolo Odogwu (blood – Lorenzo Pani ’23), Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney (Alessandro Fusco ’41); Danilo Fischetti (yellow card ’28) (Paolo Buonfiglio ’60), Giacomo Nicotera (Luca Bigi ’56), Marco Riccioni (Simone Ferrari ’11); Dino Lamb (Niccolò Cannone ’46), Federico Ruzza (captain); Sebastian Negri (Giovanni Pettinelli ’74), Manuel Zuliani (Michele Lamaro ’40), Lorenzo Cannone (Paolo Buonfiglio ’33 to 38).
Referee: Mathieu Raynal [FFR].