Munster captain Peter O’Mahony was able to inspire an brilliant Irish performance in which Ireland won 57-6 over Italy
Ireland beat Italy 57-6 in the Aviva Stadium in their third game of this year’s Six Nations Championship.
Ireland ran in eight tries over the the course of the game as they regrouped well from the defeat to France a fortnight ago.
Munster out-half Joey Carbery opened the scoring after a superb line-break from Caelan Doris who was able to dispatch the ball to Dan Sheehan who in turn let Carbery free to open the scoring.
After 18 minutes an unusual law came into effect when replacement Italian hooker Ephalahame Faiva saw red for a high shot on Dan Sheehan. This law forced the Italians to 13 players as they had no specialist hooker to help them scrumage.
With just 20 minutes gone James Lowe was able to break the line with ease delivering a sweet ball to Jamison Gibson Park who was able to go under the poles grabbing the second try of the game.
On the half hour mark, full-back Mike Lowry was able to dance his way over the line making use of the extra man on the outside and finishing smoothly. Just before half-time Peter O’Mahony put his name on the score sheet following some brilliant carrying from Tadhg Beirne and Josh Van de Flier. Italian ten Paolo Garbisi nabbed two penalties to leave the half-time score at 24-6.
Early on the second-half Tadhg Beirne continued to carry with poise giving time for Gibson Park to pick out Lowe who was on the wing in wait to go over the line. After a sublime back move in the 56th minute Johnny Sexton released Mike Lowry who was able to show some pace to score near the corner.
With the score at 36-6 in the 70th minute, Ireland lock Ryan Baird took matters into his own hands blocking down a clearance kick from the Italians and finishing the ball all by himself by the poles. Mike Lowry showed his team mentality when letting James Lowe take a try which he could have ran in the corner himself pushing the score out to 50-6. Kieran Treadwell bundled his way over the line in the final minute to make the score 57-6 and leaving a lot to play for in the rest of the championship.
Watch the highlights below: