Rampant Ireland brush Italy aside to pick up bonus point victory and remain on track for Grand Slam

When all was said and done, the only thing Ireland were in danger of losing was Jack Crowley’s gum shield, which briefly went missing in the first-half, but with the out-half confidently pulling the strings, the Italian defence struggled to cope with an attack that didn’t always fire on all cylinders.

Despite the comfortable nature of his side’s bonus point win that backed up last week’s five-pointer in Marseille, Andy Farrell will find plenty of scope for improvement ahead of Wales’ visit in a fortnight.

Making 11 changes to the match-day squad disrupted the flow, but Farrell will welcome keeping Italy scoreless, as well as the fact that several fringe players got valuable game-time.

10 points from the opening two rounds is an excellent return for a side whose sights are very much set on winning back-to-back Grand Slams for the first time.

They scored six tries here, two from the excellent Dan Sheehan, as well as scores from Crowley, Jack Conan, and wingers James Lowe and Calvin Nash.

Such was Ireland’s dominance, Farrell was able to wrap the likes of Andrew Porter and Dan Sheehan in cotton wool before the hour mark.

However, the Ireland head coach will be sweating over the fitness of Hugo Keenan, whose injury-enforced departure meant Crowley switched to full-back, with Harry Byrne getting 24 minutes at out-half.

A powerful, dynamic Irish pack were vastly superior throughout, with the scrum doing a number on their Italian counterparts.

Porter was outstanding, seeing off both Italian tightheads, while Finlay Bealham, who became a dad for the first time earlier this week, again filled in well for the injured Tadhg Furlong.

Speaking of growing reputations, the Italians, Paolo Garbisi in particular, will be having nightmares of Joe McCarthy, who set the tone in defence with another excellent performance that packed a serious punch.

With the pack on top, that allowed Crowley to play out the back and some of the Cork man’s passing was sublime, but Ireland will rue the fact that they left a hatful of tries behind them.

For all that their destiny remains firmly in their own hands, this Six Nations could still come down to points difference, and as such, Farrell will hope that Ireland don’t regret not racking up a bigger score against a gamey, yet vastly inferior Italian outfit.

The day got off to a rousing start, with seven-year-old Toy Show star Stevie Mulrooney delivering a brilliant rendition of Ireland’s Call that woke up the sleepy Aviva Stadium crowd.

Ireland weren’t quite as pitch perfect though, with Craig Casey box-kicking out on the full, as the hosts slowly began to get to grips with an Italian side looking to lay down an early marker.

Garbisi should have made it a bright start for the Azzurri, but the out-half didn’t connect properly with a wayward penalty.

Ireland needed to inject more tempo into proceedings, and Keenan duly obliged by taking a quick-tap from a mark inside his own 22.

The full-back took off and with Robbie Henshaw and Nash carrying well in the 13 clinical phases that followed, Crowley linked well with Casey to score his first professional try after seven minutes.

Cranking up the pressure at scrum-time, Ireland’s tails were up, but they had to wait until the 24th minute for their second score.

It was worth the wait, however, as a second scrum penalty set the platform. Crowley’s beautiful no-look pass released Keenan before Ireland worked their way back across to the opposite side of the pitch, where Crowley’s clever offload for Henshaw allowed him to find his impressive centre partner Stuart McCloskey, who in turn put Sheehan over in the corner.

Crowley made up for his earlier missed conversion, and the Munster man was on target again from the same spot three minutes before the break.

This time it was all about the power of the pack, who firstly won a third scrum penalty of the half, before they drove Italy back just shy of their line.

Sheehan and James Ryan were stopped short, but there was no stopping Conan on the follow-up, as the No 8’s converted try ensured that Ireland went into the break 19-0 to the good.

Ireland didn’t have to wait long to wrap up the bonus point, 10 minutes to be precise, as the pack again did major damage up front.

A fourth scrum penalty ended with the Irish maul demolishing Italy, which allowed Sheehan over for his second try of the afternoon.

Ireland thought they were over for their fifth through Sheehan, who was denied by a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Stephen Varney before Henshaw dotted down after 23 phases, only for the TMO to spot a double movement.

Despite the brief respite, things soon went from bad to worse for the visitors, as centre Tommaso Memoncello was sent to the bin for tripping James Lowe.

It was as if Lowe took the offence personally, as the winger immediately made Ireland’s numerical advantage count by bulldozing his way in for his 13th Test try.

Jordan Larmour made his return to the international stage, albeit out of position at outside centre rather than his usual wing spot.

But it was that kind of afternoon when Farrell dug a little deeper in his depth chart without getting anything like the complete performance he would have hoped for.

Nash capped another good display with his second try in as many games late on, Byrne’s touchline conversion adding further gloss to the comfortable scoreline.

Ireland – H Keenan (H Byrne 56); C Nash, R Henshaw (J Larmour 64), S McCloskey, J Lowe; J Crowley, C Casey (J Gibson-Park 72); A Porter (J Loughman 56), D Sheehan (R Kelleher 56), F Bealham (T O’Toole 56); J McCarthy, J Ryan (I Henderson 61); R Baird (J van der Flier 66), C Doris (capt), J Conan.

Italy – A Capuozzo; P Pani (F Mori 58), J I Brex, T Menoncello, M Ioane; P Garbisi, S Varney (M Page-Relo 58); D Fischetti (M Spagnolo 56), G Lucchesi (G Nicotera 56), P Ceccareilli (G Zilocchi h-t); N Cannone, R Ruzza (A Zambonin 56); A Izekor, M Zuilani (R Vintcent 69), M Lamaro (capt).

Ref: L Pearce (England)