Ireland’s title hopes end despite bonus-point win in Italy

Men’s Six Nations

Italy (10) 17

Allan 2 Pen: Allan 2 Ioane, Varney

Ireland (12) 22

Ireland defeated spirited Italy in Rome to earn a bonus-point victory, but England’s victory over Wales put an end to their hopes of capturing a third consecutive Six Nations title.

A win in the first half resulted in Hugo Keenan’s first-half score and Dan Sheehan’s hat-trick, moving Ireland to 19 points in the table, temporarily three points clear of France and four clear of England.

However, Steve Borthwick’s side surpassed Ireland in Cardiff with a thumping victory, which put pressure on France, who play Scotland in the tournament’s final game at 20:00 GMT.

Italy scored tries through Monty Ioane and Stephen Varney, but Michele Lamaro was punished for it with a sin-binned tries just before the break and Ross Vintcent red for a high hit on Keenan.

After Sheehan’s hat-trick gave the visitors a 22-10 lead, Stephen Varney’s try gave Italy a rare win over Ireland, but the home side’s late pressure was insufficient to produce a winning moment.

Caelan Doris, Ireland’s captain, said the country needed to finish the campaign with their “best performance” with their title hopes hanging by a thread as they arrive in Rome after suffering a humiliating defeat by France.

However, this was far beyond. Ireland won the opening 20 minutes of play without conceding a point. After 12 minutes, Italy capitalized, creating a beautiful opening try.

Former centre Tommaso Menoncello broke through a few tackles and gave Paolo Garbisi a perfectly weighted grubber kick that Ioane did down.

Without a knock-on after another impressive Menoncello surged through the Ireland midfield, Italy could have scored a second try a few minutes later.

After that let-off, Ireland eventually got their act together, and Jack Crowley sent Keenan through for the Ireland opener after the TMO ruled out a Finlay Bealham try for the prop’s double movement.

The floodgates were not fully opened. Tommaso Allan nailed a long-range penalty to give Italy a 10-7 lead in place of Garry Ringrose, who was back from suspension after being offside.

However, Italy suffered injuries in the first half when Michele Lamaro, the squad captain, was sin-binned for intentionally kicking the ball out of Jamison Gibson-Park’s hands at the back of a ruck.

Ireland increased the lead to seven with a nearly identical second try off the back of a maul before Vintcent was shown a yellow card for a risky tackle on Keenan, which was later upgraded to a 20-minute red.

The third Ireland try was the winner. Sheehan scored his treble with a pinpoint kick from Gibson-Park to the wing before Mack Hansen tapped the ball back.

Irish nerves should have been eased by that bonus-point score, but Italy rallied after fly-half Crowley, who was playing his first start of the tournament, missed his third conversion attempt.

Alternate scrum-half Varney touched down after Ange Capuozzo’s excellent break when Hansen misjudged the ball’s trajectory inside Ireland’s in-goal area.

Italy were within five points of Allan’s conversion, but Ireland held on to hold on to earn the win despite exerting considerable pressure in the dying stages after James Lowe was ruled to have missed a fifth try.

Ireland also bid adieu to Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray, both of whom were greeted with enthusiastic applause when they first appeared on the bench.

At the end of the final Test, Cian Healy, who played his final match against France, waved goodbye to Ireland’s fans.

Replacements: Marin, Nicotera, Spagnolo, Zilocchi, N Cannone, Lamaro, Vintcent, Varney, and Nicotera.

Sin-bin: Lamaro (40), Nicotera (80)

Red card: Vintcent (56)

Ireland: Keenan, Hansen, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe, Crowley, Gibson-Park, Porter, Sheehan, Bealham, Ryan, Beirne, Conan, Van der Flier, Doris (capt.).

Replacements: Boyle, Furlong, O’Mahony, Murray, Prendergast, Aki, and G McCarthy.