Sharp Italy push Ireland all the way

By PAUL WILKINS

Ireland………… 23pts

Tries: O'Connell 20, O'Connor 28, Edogbo 73

Conversions: Murphy 21

Penalties: Murphy 3, 60

Italy…………….. 22pts

Tries: Scalabrin 23, 30; Gritti 65

Conversions: Pucciarello 24, 31

Penalties: Pucciarello 34

Back-to-back Grand Slam winners Ireland overcome an almighty scare courtesy of Sean Edogbo's late try.

It was a reality check for the Irish who failed to claim a bonus point and stuttered at times but fought back to deny an Italian outfit who showed their future is bright.

Player of the match winger Marco Scalabrin was unfortunate to end up on the losing side as he was a man possessed, scoring two tries and caused mayhem for the Irish defence with blistering pace and neat offloads.

However Ireland, who beat world champions France last week, got over the line to move second behind England in the table.

Ireland full-back Ben O'Connor said: “What a battle that was for the whole 80 minutes. Everyone dug in and put their body on the line.

“We didn't perform our best but we knew for the 80 minutes that no one was going to back down.”

An early Jack Murphy penalty was all Ireland had to show for their domination in territory and possession in the opening 20 minutes.

They extended their lead when captain Evan O'Connell touched down under the posts from a tap-penalty five-metres out, thanks to some help from Bryn Ward and Luke Murphy.

The visitors did not roll over and had a try of their own three minutes later. After getting a huge drive at the scrum, fly-half Martino Pucciariello played a neat inside ball to Scalabrin who raced through a gap to score.

The hosts appeared to be spurred on by Italy's response and went on the attack immediately, being rewarded with their second score on the half-hour mark through O'Connor.

Straight from the restart, Ireland made a mess of proceedings and Scalabrin collected the loose ball to run in and score his second. Pucciariello then stepped up on the stroke of half-time to land a penalty and put the visitors 17-15 up at the break.

After a strong start for the visitors in the second period, it was Ireland who re-took the lead on the hour mark with a Jack Murphy penalty.

However, the Azzurri hit back on 66 minutes as they refused to give up the fight as the impressive Scalabrin turned creator with a powerful run, shaking off three tackles, before providing a beautiful offload to Piero Gritti, who dived over in the corner.

But with six minutes remaining Hugh Gavin spun the ball onto the right flank where Edogbo hammered towards the try-line, bulldozing Mirko Belloni to touch down for the winner and sparked wild scenes inside Musgrave Park.

Italy captain Jacopo Botturi said: “I'm very proud that we fought in every moment of this game. We now have to work towards the next match. I hoped we were going to win but our little errors cost us which has caused frustration.”