Ireland demolish hapless Azzurri

Ireland got their first win of this season's Six Nations at Lansdowne Road in Dublin on Saturday, beating a hapless Italy 42-10.

The Irish, for whom Ronan O'Gara became their most capped player with 118, ran in five tries - two to Tommy Bowe (taking his tally to 22 in 46 tests), as well as one apiece to Keith Earls, Tom Court (his first for his country in 26 matches) and Andrew Trimble.

Italy remain pointless after three successive defeats.

Italy skipper Sergio Parisse's converted first-half try had briefly drawn the two sides level at 10-10.

New Italian coach Jacques Brunel had hoped it would be lucky No.13 against Ireland since their tournament debut in 2000, but despite an encouraging first half, the Azzurri could not halt their losing streak.

As has happened so often before, the scoreline did not fully reflect the performance of the visitors.

They went in 10-17 behind at the break, and while that scoreline appeared harsh, a blistering second half show by the Irish ensured they go to Paris next Sunday for the re-arranged fixture with the French in confident mood.

Brunel made four changes to the side that lost to England last time out, while Declan Kidney kept the same team that he had intended to start in the aborted match in Paris a fortnight ago.

Having lost the lost last three test matches at Lansdowne Road Ireland wanted a performance that would bury the memory of the narrow loss to Wales in the opening round.

If Italy had had a more reliable flyhalf, there could have been even greater anxiety in Dublin, with South African-born Tobias Botes missing three relatively straightforward kicks.

The Treviso player missed his very first opportunity in the second minute, but then traded penalties with Jonathan Sexton in a muted opening 10 minutes.

Kidney would have been pleased with the manner in which Keith Earls assumed the heavy burden of replacing the injured legend Brian O'Driscoll in the centres and he added lustre to it with their first try.

After good work by Gordon D'Arcy brought Ireland into the Italian 22, the ball eventually found Earls, who punched a hole through the weak defence of Botes and Luke McLean.

Italy fought back quickly and after Alberto Sgardi went close, there was no stopping Parisse, who ran home after Botes' dummy-and-pass gave the Italian skipper a try on a plate.

Ireland were rattled, but they ensured a half-time lead after some good work by the impressive Stephen Ferris, who sent his former Ulster team mate Bowe in unopposed.

While Kidney made no changes in personnel at half-time, the 25-0 second half scorecard tells its own story.

Ireland simply pummeled the Italians into submission with tries from Bowe - taking his tally to three in this season's tournament - replacement Tom Court and a great solo break by Trimble right at the death ensuring a convincing full-time score.

Man of the match:  Most of the heroes were on the Ireland side. It started with flyhalf Jonathan Sexton - who displayed his full range of skills. The loose trio of Jamie Heaslip, Sean O'Brien and Stephen Ferris were immense, captain Paul O'Connell was also a tower of strength. However, our award goes to Italy's lone warrior - No.8 Sergio Parisse. he is still, by some distance, Italy best player and one of the few reasons they remain competitive.

Moment of the match: It was an evenly contested game, until the 39th minute - when Tommy Bowe raced over in the right hand corner for his team's second try. That made it 17-10 at the break and from then Italy lost all purpose and hope.

Villain of the match:  Nobody.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries: Earls, Bowe 2, Court, Trimble
Cons: Sexton 4
Pens: Sexton 3

For Italy:
Try: Parisse
Con: Botes
Pen: Botes

Teams:

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Sean O'Brien, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell (captain), 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Tom Court, 18 Donnacha Ryan, 19 Peter O'Mahony, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Fergus McFadden.

Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovanbattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Alberto Sgarbi, 11 Luke McLean, 10 Tobias Botes, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse (captain), 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Michele Rizzo.
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Fabio Staibano, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Fabio Semenzato, 21 Kris Burton, 22 Gonzalo Canale.

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

AFP & rugby365.com