IN A CITY where novenas and miracles are common currency, Ireland did just enough to keep their remote hopes of a historic Six Nations three-in-a-row flickering for a few more hours.
With well-chewed nails, it’s over to you, England and France.
Dan Sheehan’s hat-trick try shortly before the hour mark secured the vital bonus point for Simon Easterby’s side and papered over the cracks of a sluggish performance in the Stadio Olimpico.
Ireland’s Championship destiny was ripped clean from their hands by France in Dublin last week, and the 30,000 Irish fans who descended on Rome travelled in the hope of a defiant last stand to make Super Saturday interesting.
But for as long as this was a game of 15 versus 15, Ireland’s display was littered with loose play, bad reads, missed tackles and some questionable decision-making.
The contest spun on two key moments either side of half time as Italy lost captain Michele Lamaro to a yellow card, and then seconds before they were restored to their full complement, saw Ross Vintcent also sent to the sin bin for foul play, which was ultimately upgraded to a 20-minute red.
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By the time Italy were back to 15 for the final 11 minutes, Ireland had come from five points down to lead 22-17 but still had to weather a nervy finale.
Monty Ioane gave Italy an early lead. Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO
Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO / INPHO
It was Italy who dominated the territory and possession in the opening quarter, and were full value for their lead when Monty Ioane crossed for the game’s opening try in the 11th minute.
Jamison Gibson-Park’s attempt to disguise a reverse pass in the Italian half backfired, and when Danilo Fischetti kicked clear, Robbie Henshaw had to be quick to outpace the lightning Ange Capuozzo and ground the ball in goal.
Ireland will be disappointed in the manner of how they conceded from the resulting goalline dropout: Mack Hansen shot from the line but missed his tackle on Tommaso Menoncello, Paolo Garbisi weighted his kick to perfection, and Ioane finished in the corner. Tommaso Allan curled his conversion inside the right stick to give his side an early 7-0 lead.
Not for the first time in this championship, Ireland’s inability to convert short-range opportunities looked like it could be their undoing. Finlay Bealham thought he had scored on 20 minutes but the TMO review showed that he had been stopped well short on his initial carry, and it was only after a double — arguably a triple — movement that he managed to ground the ball.
Before there was time to dwell on the missed opportunity, Ireland had righted that wrong. The attacking scrum held firm, Jack Crowley — the headline inclusion of Easterby’s six changes — timed his pass to perfection, and Hugo Keenan burst through the space and the tackle of a wrongfooted Juan Ignacio Brex to score.
Michele Lamaro's yellow card undid much of Italy's good work in the first half. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Crowley’s missed conversion left Italy 7-5 in front — and deservedly so on the balance of play — but Azzurri head coach Gonzalo Quesada was left to rue his luck after losing three of his pack to injury in that opening half hour, Dino Lamb, Lorenzo Cannone and Sebastian Negri all forced off.
Captain Lamaro was introduced in Negri’s place and, after a beautifully-struck penalty from Allan had opened up a 10-5 lead, it was the skipper’s moment of madness that undid so much of Italy’s good work. He slapped the ball from Gibson-Park’s hands at a ruck, and despite his protestations, left referee Luke Pearce with no option but to send him to the bin.
Ireland pressed home their advantage immediately with a trademark lineout maul, Sheehan peeling from the left corner, ably assisted by Gibson-Park, to power over, with Crowley’s simple conversion sending Ireland in with a largely undeserved 12-10 lead.
Peter O'Mahony and Conor Murray (not pictured) made the final appearances of their storied international careers. Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO
Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO / INPHO
The Irish pressure came in waves after the restart and after a fine covering tackle from Martin Page-Relo on Garry Ringrose halted one Irish break, and some scrambling defence denied James Ryan and James Lowe in the corner, Sheehan mauled over for his second try with just seconds remaining on the sin bin clock.
Before Lamaro could return to the action and restore Italy to 15, substitute Vintcent smashed Keenan head-on-head from the restart. Referee Pearce issued an initial yellow card, but it was only ever a matter of time before that was upgraded to a 20-minute red by the bunker review.
From there, it seemed certain that Ireland could close out a nervy, unimpressive victory with the bonus point that they came for. Keenan’s second try of the afternoon was chalked off at the final moment, TMO Andrew Jackson correctly spotting a knock-on by Caelan Doris in the build up.
And the bonus point was ultimately secured on 58 minutes in a carbon copy of Jamie Osborne’s try against Wales: Hansen was at full stretch to pick the ball from the Roman skies and pop it back to the arriving Sheehan on his inside to complete his hat-trick.
Dan Sheehan's hat-trick secured Ireland's bonus point. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Crowley’s missed conversion left Ireland just 22-10 in front with 20 minutes to play, and that advantage was largely whittled away when Stephen Varney ran on to Capuozzo’s kick to score, Allan converting to leave it 22-17 and Irish nerves shredded.
Ireland could have — and should have — been afforded a bit more comfort in the finale but another Keenan try was chalked off, this time because Lowe’s foot was deemed to be in touch when the replay seemingly suggested that he had walked the white-line tightrope to perfection.
As Italy threatened in the final minutes, Ireland were happy to kick the ball dead and leave their fate in the hands of their championship rivals.
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Scorers for Italy
Tries: Ioane, Varney
Conversions: Allan (2)
Penalty: Allan
Scorers for Ireland
Tries: Keenan, Sheehan (3)
Conversions: Crowley
ITALY: Tommaso Allan (Leonardo Marin, 75′); Ange Capuozzo, Juan Ignacio Brex (captain), Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Martin Page-Relo (Stephen Varney, 45′); Danilo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Simone Ferrari; Dino Lamb (Niccolo Cannone, 18′), Federico Ruzza; Sebastian Negri (Michele Lamaro, 29′), Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone (Ross Vintcent, 29′).
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw (Bundee Aki, 55′), James Lowe; Jack Crowley (Sam Prendergast, 64′), Jamison Gibson-Park (Conor Murray, 64′); Andrew Porter (Jack Boyle, 64′), Dan Sheehan (Gus McCarthy, 70′), Finlay Bealham (Tadhg Furlong, 46′); James Ryan (Joe McCarthy, 46′), Tadhg Beirne; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier (Peter O’Mahony, 51′), Caelan Doris (captain).
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Sheehan's hat-trick saves sluggish Ireland - now they wait on a Six Nations miracle
Italy 17
Ireland 22
IN A CITY where novenas and miracles are common currency, Ireland did just enough to keep their remote hopes of a historic Six Nations three-in-a-row flickering for a few more hours.
With well-chewed nails, it’s over to you, England and France.
Dan Sheehan’s hat-trick try shortly before the hour mark secured the vital bonus point for Simon Easterby’s side and papered over the cracks of a sluggish performance in the Stadio Olimpico.
Ireland’s Championship destiny was ripped clean from their hands by France in Dublin last week, and the 30,000 Irish fans who descended on Rome travelled in the hope of a defiant last stand to make Super Saturday interesting.
But for as long as this was a game of 15 versus 15, Ireland’s display was littered with loose play, bad reads, missed tackles and some questionable decision-making.
The contest spun on two key moments either side of half time as Italy lost captain Michele Lamaro to a yellow card, and then seconds before they were restored to their full complement, saw Ross Vintcent also sent to the sin bin for foul play, which was ultimately upgraded to a 20-minute red.
By the time Italy were back to 15 for the final 11 minutes, Ireland had come from five points down to lead 22-17 but still had to weather a nervy finale.
It was Italy who dominated the territory and possession in the opening quarter, and were full value for their lead when Monty Ioane crossed for the game’s opening try in the 11th minute.
Jamison Gibson-Park’s attempt to disguise a reverse pass in the Italian half backfired, and when Danilo Fischetti kicked clear, Robbie Henshaw had to be quick to outpace the lightning Ange Capuozzo and ground the ball in goal.
Ireland will be disappointed in the manner of how they conceded from the resulting goalline dropout: Mack Hansen shot from the line but missed his tackle on Tommaso Menoncello, Paolo Garbisi weighted his kick to perfection, and Ioane finished in the corner. Tommaso Allan curled his conversion inside the right stick to give his side an early 7-0 lead.
Not for the first time in this championship, Ireland’s inability to convert short-range opportunities looked like it could be their undoing. Finlay Bealham thought he had scored on 20 minutes but the TMO review showed that he had been stopped well short on his initial carry, and it was only after a double — arguably a triple — movement that he managed to ground the ball.
Before there was time to dwell on the missed opportunity, Ireland had righted that wrong. The attacking scrum held firm, Jack Crowley — the headline inclusion of Easterby’s six changes — timed his pass to perfection, and Hugo Keenan burst through the space and the tackle of a wrongfooted Juan Ignacio Brex to score.
Crowley’s missed conversion left Italy 7-5 in front — and deservedly so on the balance of play — but Azzurri head coach Gonzalo Quesada was left to rue his luck after losing three of his pack to injury in that opening half hour, Dino Lamb, Lorenzo Cannone and Sebastian Negri all forced off.
Captain Lamaro was introduced in Negri’s place and, after a beautifully-struck penalty from Allan had opened up a 10-5 lead, it was the skipper’s moment of madness that undid so much of Italy’s good work. He slapped the ball from Gibson-Park’s hands at a ruck, and despite his protestations, left referee Luke Pearce with no option but to send him to the bin.
Ireland pressed home their advantage immediately with a trademark lineout maul, Sheehan peeling from the left corner, ably assisted by Gibson-Park, to power over, with Crowley’s simple conversion sending Ireland in with a largely undeserved 12-10 lead.
The Irish pressure came in waves after the restart and after a fine covering tackle from Martin Page-Relo on Garry Ringrose halted one Irish break, and some scrambling defence denied James Ryan and James Lowe in the corner, Sheehan mauled over for his second try with just seconds remaining on the sin bin clock.
Before Lamaro could return to the action and restore Italy to 15, substitute Vintcent smashed Keenan head-on-head from the restart. Referee Pearce issued an initial yellow card, but it was only ever a matter of time before that was upgraded to a 20-minute red by the bunker review.
From there, it seemed certain that Ireland could close out a nervy, unimpressive victory with the bonus point that they came for. Keenan’s second try of the afternoon was chalked off at the final moment, TMO Andrew Jackson correctly spotting a knock-on by Caelan Doris in the build up.
And the bonus point was ultimately secured on 58 minutes in a carbon copy of Jamie Osborne’s try against Wales: Hansen was at full stretch to pick the ball from the Roman skies and pop it back to the arriving Sheehan on his inside to complete his hat-trick.
Crowley’s missed conversion left Ireland just 22-10 in front with 20 minutes to play, and that advantage was largely whittled away when Stephen Varney ran on to Capuozzo’s kick to score, Allan converting to leave it 22-17 and Irish nerves shredded.
Ireland could have — and should have — been afforded a bit more comfort in the finale but another Keenan try was chalked off, this time because Lowe’s foot was deemed to be in touch when the replay seemingly suggested that he had walked the white-line tightrope to perfection.
As Italy threatened in the final minutes, Ireland were happy to kick the ball dead and leave their fate in the hands of their championship rivals.
Scorers for Italy
Scorers for Ireland
ITALY: Tommaso Allan (Leonardo Marin, 75′); Ange Capuozzo, Juan Ignacio Brex (captain), Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Martin Page-Relo (Stephen Varney, 45′); Danilo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Simone Ferrari; Dino Lamb (Niccolo Cannone, 18′), Federico Ruzza; Sebastian Negri (Michele Lamaro, 29′), Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone (Ross Vintcent, 29′).
IRELAND: Hugo Keenan; Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw (Bundee Aki, 55′), James Lowe; Jack Crowley (Sam Prendergast, 64′), Jamison Gibson-Park (Conor Murray, 64′); Andrew Porter (Jack Boyle, 64′), Dan Sheehan (Gus McCarthy, 70′), Finlay Bealham (Tadhg Furlong, 46′); James Ryan (Joe McCarthy, 46′), Tadhg Beirne; Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier (Peter O’Mahony, 51′), Caelan Doris (captain).
Referee: Luke Pearce [RFU].
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Six Nations Ireland Match Report Rugby Italy