Right then, I don’t want to brag, but that was almost exactly what I said would happen. “Joe Schmidt wouldn’t be happy with that in any way, shape or form,” says Keith Wood and you can’t argue with that. Ireland got involved in a scrap with the Italian forwards and the result was a bloody ugly match. I’m afraid I can’t hang around and chat as I’m heading straight to the next MBM now. Do join me there for France v Scotland from Paris.
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Full-time: Italy 3-26 Ireland
80 min So it’s a scrum to Ireland 5m from their own line. Isaac Boss is penalised for a crooked feed, but the referee oddly resets the scrum rather than awarding a free-kick. Anyhow, the clock goes red, Madigan boots into touch and that’s that.
Try disallowed
79 min Some sweet offloading sends Chistolini through a gap and to within 5m. McLean chips over the top for Parisse and the captain can’t quite get his hands to it. Haimona gathers and dives over in the left-hand corner. We go back to see if Parisse knocked on and it looks like it brushed his fingertips.
Updated
78 min It’s a clean scrum for Italy – we should probably be impressed we’ve had so many of those given the state of this sandy pitch – so Italy will get one last go at Ireland’s line.
77 min Venditti comes on for Masi at full-back for Italy.
76 min Italy still have it, but they’re constantly losing ground. Back outside the 22 until McLean steps past one man. They go through the phases but O’Donnell’s tackle eventually forces the knock-on. Madigan chips over the top for Kearney on the counter and the full-back gathers, but Boss knocks on after Kearney offloads.
75 min Manici steals the lineout and bursts into the 22. Inside it comes and De Marci carries up to within 10m. Another couple of metres gained when it goes right to Masi. This is a great chance for Italy to score their first try since last year’s championship.
74 min Italy get clean ball from the scrum and Masi comes up into the line and offloads very nicely to McLean on his left, setting the wing away into space. Bowe, I think, scrambles back well though and tackles McLean into touch.
Updated
73 min Now Ireland go through the hand up to halfway. It’s slow ball and then Boss knocks on. Scrum Italy on halfway. The crowd has gone very quiet now and I don’t blame them, I wouldn’t want to be out in this weather.
71 min Italy go left and Allan breaks the line in midfield with a neat dummy. Haimona cross-kicks for Sarto, but Isaac Boss fields the very wet ball very well. I guess that means Isaac Boss has come on for the try-scorer Murray.
70 min That’s a quite outstanding scrum from the new Italian front-row, walking Ireland back and forcing them to stand up. Penalty Italy and McLean kicks down the right into touch midway between the 10m line and the 22.
69 min Zebo chases a high ball from Madigan but can’t collect it. Italy bring on Chistolini for Castrogiovanni and Andrea Manici for Ghiraldini.
68 min I don’t think we’ll see much expansive rugby now. It’s suddenly got incredibly dark in Rome and is positively belting it down. Felix Jones is on for Ireland.
Converted try! (O'Donnell 67) Italy 3-26 Ireland
Oh dear. Ireland are getting width on the ball and O’Donnell, 40m out, steps past Castro and then shrugs off a dreadful attempted tackle from Masi. There’s no second line of defence and the late call-up sprints over! Madigan converts
Updated
66 min Time to try something a bit more expansive then for Ireland? Madigan is on for Keatley so maybe.
Converted try! (Murray 65) Italy 3-19 Ireland
65 min Into the corner again. Murphy takes quick ball off the lineout and charges. Ireland are a few metres short. Two more phases and then Murray goes himself. Sniping over just to the right of the sticks from inches out. Keatley converts.
Updated
64 min Tommy Allan comes on for Campagnaro for Italy. Now Ireland’s maul builds up a head of steam. Advantage Ireland again... penalty for side entry against Ghiraldini. Oh and he’s binned too.
63 min O’Connell catches and Ireland maul. With the penalty advantage, Keatley cross-kicks for Zebo. McLean gets a hand up there and knocks it down but Kearney gathers and runs around the long way, but then passes it forward to Bowe. Who drops it. Back for the penalty we go and Keatley will knock this into the corner again.
61 min Murray charges down Masi’s clearance and Ireland have possession on the Italy 22. They spin it wide to Bowe, who looks to grubber kick through but it comes off the boot of Masi and goes into touch. Ah well.
60 min Ireland scrum in the middle of the park. It’s a steady one – of course it is, out of kicking range – and Keatley kicks to touch on the right just outside the 22.
59 min I do like Kelly Haimona’s restarts, very shallow and good for his forwards to reclaim as Castro does here. I don’t like the position he takes this pass from though, about a metre in front of the passer, and nor does the ref.
Penalty (Keatley 58) Italy 3-12 Ireland
Three easy points for Keatley this is indeed.
Updated
57 min Still going with this scrum... ah there we go, penalty to Ireland. It’s right in front of the posts, it’s 22m out and it’s for wheeling the scrum. This should be three easy points for Ian Keatley.
54 min As I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you, Ireland carry it up through the forwards. They get up to the 22, Keatley looks to shimmy through a gap but then his pass goes into the chest of the referee.
Updated
53 min A good scrum from Italy and, as the ground gives way, they get a penalty for collapsing. It’s cleared down the right to touch, but Ireland steal the lineout.
Updated
52 min Oh they’ve done it again! Henshaw takes the ball on the loop around from Zebo and goes down the left. He’s stopped 5m short and then Murray knocks on when trying to pick it up! Marty Moore comes on for Mike Ross.
51 min Cronin’s throw is taken well and Ireland maul it. That goes nowhere, surprisingly, and now they pass right. Barbini drives Kearney back in the tackle though.
50 min Here we go, Henshaw and Payne combine to send it left to Zebo but he’s dragged down metres short! Oh and now Ireland knock it on when it comes back inside. Rather ridiculously, Italy try running it from their own line, before Gori sees sense and clears up to the 22. Still good territory this for Ireland.
49 min Anyway a good scrum from Ireland and another lovely change of pace from Keatley, attacking the line, sees them up to within 10m. Italy’s defence is outstanding though.
48 min This pitch is horrendous. “That’s not a divot, that’s a bunker” says the commentator and he’s not wrong.
47 min Now they’re into the 22 and Keatley steps nicely outside his opposite number then does for Masi with a good change of pace. He looks to put Zebo in down the left but it goes to Campagnaro, who can’t hold on to the interception!
Marco Barbini comes on for his Italy debut in place of Zanni. Cronin replaces Best for Ireland.
46 min Ireland continue to be patient, taking the ball into contact around the 10m line. They’ve made about 5m in the past couple of minutes.
Updated
45 min Football is rubbish.
44 min Italy win the lineout on halfway and first Haimona then Ghiraldini make ground through the middle. Aguero drops it in midfield though. The Manchester City striker has had a tough time of it today.
43 min Ireland are going through the phases. It’s very, very slow stuff this. Eventually Italy are awarded a penalty, although I can’t for the life of me work out what for. Holding on, apparently. Not a good call.
41 min Right, here we go then. I won’t lie, I’ve seen plays more interesting than that first half. Honest to god, plays. Italy look to pass along the line but it goes loose and Henshaw nabs the ball. Ireland move it infield and Keatley chips over the top for Bowe, but the Ulster wing is beaten by the bounce.
Wait, here’s one!
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A question:
@danlucas86 Is that Novak Djokovic's brother with the whistle?
— Gary Naylor (@garynaylor999) February 7, 2015
Hmm. Not sure I see that one. I’d let our dear readers decide, only I can’t find a picture of Pascal Gauzere on the wires.
Well. We’ve seen a lot of kicks, some of which actually ended up where they were intended to go. It’s been exactly the match we expected: tight and scrappy for now but you would expect Ireland to have more in the tank.
Penalty (Haimona) & Half-time: Italy 3-9 Ireland
The clock ticks over to red and Haimona knocks his first effort of the match through.
40 min Haimona will go for goal from wide on the left, on the 22.
39 min Well well well. Haimona sticks it in the corner. Furno takes the throw and it’s Italy’s turn to maul. Another penalty to Italy for McGrath taking the jumper out in the line-out. O’Mahoney having treatment for a shoulder injury now.
38 min Minto breaks through O’Mahoney’s tackle, which is no mean feat. It’s knocked on but we go back for a penalty advantage.
37 min Italy reclaim the ball from Haimona’s shallow kick-off and the big men carry it up into the 22. We go through the phases, right, then left.
Penalty (Keatley 36) Italy 0-9 Ireland
From close-range, just to the right, Keatley puts Ireland nine up.
35 min Toner takes the throw at the back of the line-out. Rather unsurprisingly, they maul towards the line. It comes back to Murray who puts a cute box kick over the maul for Bowe. He can’t gather it but taps back for Murray who is dragged into touch. We go back for an Ireland penalty for collapsing the maul though.
34 min Keatley finds touch 10m out on the right.
33 min O’Connell steals the lineout. Neither side’s has been great today. Keatley puts it up, Masi takes and Kearney wraps him up just between halfway and the Italy 10m line. Now Gori puts up a high kick, which Parisse takes, but the captain is off-side.
31 min Enough of the backs, Ireland look to drive through the forwards. Good defence this though and Ireland are going backwards. Zebo is wrapped up by Castrogiovanni and it’s Campagnaro who gets over the ball and wins the penalty!
30 min A good kick from Keatley into touch in the 22. Surprisingly they don’t maul it and Henshaw then Payne carry up the middle. Ireland work it right...
29 min Mike Ross gets the pats on the arse from his teammates as Aguero buckles under pressure and Ireland get the penalty, around 4m infield and 25m out. Would imagine this will go into touch.
Updated
28 min McLean kicks clear but straight to Bowe. The Irishmen sling it left but Henshaw knocks it on near halfway. Sigh.
27 min Excellent work this by Keatley. From the maul that emerged from the lineout, Murray’s pass went loose. Keatley went back to gather it up, stepped away from the tackler and then kicked very neatly into the Italian 22 and into touch.
26 min Gori goes to box kick but Furno is in his way, so the scrum-half makes a break down the blind-side. He’s tackled into touch just after crossing halfway though.
25 min Another exchange of kicks ends with Keatley finding a good touch on the left just past the Italy 10m line. I feel like I’ve been writing that a lot.
23 min Oh Furno nabs the throw and Parisse makes ground through the middle. It goes right and Campagnaro gets up to the 22. Back inside it comes and Haimona’s decision-making is poor as he kicks high. Bowe outjumps Parisse and is pushed by the great Italian. Penalty Ireland and Keatley boots it out the 22.
22 min Zanni looks to burst forward from halfway and ploughs a furrow down the left, getting to the Ireland 10m line. He’s bundled into touch.
Penalty (Keatley 21) Italy 0-6 Ireland
35m out, off to the right, Keatley slides it straight through the middle.
20 min Haimona kicks long but straight to Kearney and the Leinster man counters with a run up to half-way. From there, Keatley sends it up high and Masi knocks on before McLean, in an off-side position, plays the ball. Keatley will kick for goal.
19 min Poor old Sean O’Brien looks absolutely distraught on the Irish bench. At the scrum, Italy get a free-kick for an early push.
18 min Ah it’s knocked on in the tight. Scrum Italy on their own 22.
17 min Ghiraldini’s throw is stolen easily by Devin Toner. Ireland carry up to the 22, shifting left then back inside to the right. Good defence so far from Italy though.
Updated
16 min Now Kearney finds touch on the Ireland right near halfway.
15 min Ireland now going through the phases between halfway and the Italian 10m line. Keatley looks to kick but it’s charged down well by, I think, Campagnaro. Kearney and Masi then play kick tennis.
14 min Another very solid scrum and Keatley’s kick into the 22 is fumbled backwards by Masi, the 2013 player of the tournament (that’s an answer for Michael Butler’s quiz for you). He recovers well though and clears 40m upfield.
13 min Italy get good clean lineout ball courtesy of Furno’s excellent take. The ball goes right and the number 10 Haimona takes it into contact. O’Donnell and McGrath double up on the tackle and hold the Italian up, forming a maul and winning a scrum when the ball goes nowhere.
12 min Down goes the scrum again and McGrath is man who gets the blame. Haimona kicks to touch on the left, just past the Ireland 10m line.
11 min Payne carries it up the middle after quick ball off the top of the line-out. It’s recycled quickly and Keatley pops it inside for O’Donnell, but it’s forwards.
10 min Ireland win the lineout and maul it upfield. Zanni is in at the side and that’s a penalty to Ireland. Keatley kicks to touch right on the Italian 10m line.
9 min Masi takes well just inside his own half but it’s turned over. Ireland go left to Keatley, but his cross-kick is straight to McLean on the full. The Italy wing kicks ahead nicely and Ireland have the lineout on their left, just outside the 22.
Updated
8 min This time Haimona restarts, which I expected to begin with to be honest. Anyhow, Toner takes, O’Mahoney picks up the gauntlet and Murray kicks clear.
Penalty (Keatley 7) Italy 0-3 Ireland
Keatley takes it back outside the 22 to widen the angle and slots it home confidently.
6 min Ireland go through the backs into the 22. Best looks to power through but he runs into Parisse. Aguero is off-side at the ruck and Keatley will get his first shot at goal from around 15m, off to the right.
5 min Bad news: the pitch is cutting up already really badly, under a perfectly static scrum.
4 min Ireland win the line-out and O’Mahoney carries upfield well. Keatley puts it up high and Italy field, but then the wonderfully dreadlocked Furno knocks it on just outside his own 22. Good chance this for Ireland.
3 min Ireland’s first scrum, their depleted pack against Italy’s famed on, is a solid one and Aguero is penalised for collapsing it. Keatley clears to touch near halfway on the Ireland right.
1 min PEEEEP! Here we go, Italy kicking off with Masi and Italy retain possession. Luke McLean carries up to within 25m and then Gori snipes around the edge of the ruck and offloads to Morisi on the left-hand touchline but it’s a forward pass.
Apparently, it’s O’Brien’s shoulder that has gone whereas it was a hamstring keeping him out for the last 15 months. So a new one.
I’m also keen to see how Keatley gets on standing in for Jonny Sexton. He’s quite the talent, having seamlessly taken over from ROG at Munster. Anyway...
So Diack, of Ulster, is in the squad. I’ll admit, I haven’t seen a whole lot of him. I do know that he has his own range of wine though. The grapes are presumably grown back in South Africa, where he grew up.
Anyhow, O’Donnell is a more than capable stand-in for O’Brien, who was lacking match fitness in any case. I still expect a comfortable Ireland win.
“Hi Dan,” begins John McEnerney, writing to my personal email address! “This one is tougher than it looks for Ireland. Parisse could have a field day with Jamie H missing, Jordi Murphy is a top player but he’s not the finished article like Heaslip is so he’ll have to play out of his skin today to stop one of the great eights in the last 10 years. Ireland should win this win as they are stronger in every area but look what happened last night. Ireland by a score or four once they get going they’ll be clinical & take their scores.Hope you enjoyed the post match celebrations last night!”
Celebrations? I was here until gone midnight.
The teams are out. Tommy O’Donnell comes into the team at seven for O’Brien. Robbie Diack come on to the bench.
Breaking news Sean O’Brien has been injured in the warm-up
Of course the last time Ireland travelled to Rome, they found themselves on the wrong end of a hell of a surprise. 22-15 it finished that day and Ireland only avoided finishing bottom of the pile thanks to a slightly better points difference than France. I can’t stress enough how unlikely a repeat performance today is: Italy are terrible.
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Preamble
Afternoon folks. Well that was quite the start last night, wasn’t it? A surprise win for a surprisingly cohesive England against a surprisingly Awol Wales in Cardiff. But forget about that, it’s in the past! All we can hope for now is that it sets a precedent for interesting matches throughout the weekend.
We ease into Saturday with what feels like a bit of an appetiser. Ireland, unbeaten in the autumn, should win in Rome without too many problems. Italy were terrible in 2014: they beat only Samoa, in the autumn, and before that lost in Samoa, Japan and Fiji. Put simply, their chances today are as thin as Mr. Creosote’s after dinner mint.
Ireland won’t have it all their own way though. Their game plan is essentially to dominate up front and let the half backs do their thing with the boot. It’s hugely effective, as both Australia and South Africa found out. Italy though have a group of enormous, grizzled, hugely experienced forwards: it won’t be enough to win them the match, but it will be a taxing experience for the Irish today. Expect Joe Schmidt’s men, Heaslip-less but with Sean O’Brien returned, to grind Italy down for the first hour or so and then set that rather exciting backline free.
Kick-off is at 2.30pm GMT. That’s 3.30pm if you happen to be in Rome, you lucky so and so.
Today's match officials
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (FFR)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (RFU) Stuart Berry (SARU)
TV: Graham Hughes (RFU)
Italy v Ireland - line-ups
Italy : 1-Matias Aguero, 2-Leonardo Ghiraldini, 3-Martin Castrogiovanni, 4-Joshua Furno, 5-George Fabio Biagi, 6-Alessandro Zanni;7-Francesco Minto, 8-Sergio Parisse (capt); 9-Edoardo Gori, 10-Kelly Haimona, 11-Luke McLean, 12-Luca Morisi, 13-Michele Campagnaro;14-Leonardo Sarto 15-Andrea Masi
Replacements: 16-Andrea Manici, 17-Alberto De Marchi, 18-Dario Chistolini, 19-Marco Fuser, 20-Marco Barbini, 21-Gullo Palazzani, 22-Tommy Allan, 23-Giovanbattista Venditti
Ireland: 1-Jack McGrath, 2-Rory Best, 3-Mike Ross, 4-Devin Toner, 5-Paul O’Connell (capt), 6-Peter O’Mahony;7-Sean O’Brien, 8-Jordi Murphy;9-Conor Murray, 10-Ian Keatley, 11-Simon Zebo, 12-Robbie Henshaw, 13-Jared Payne;14-Tommy Bowe 15-Rob Kearney
Replacements: 16-Sean Cronin, 17-James Cronin, 18-Martin Moore, 19-Iain Henderson, 20-Tommy O’Donnell, 21-Isaac Boss, 22-Ian Madigan, 23-Felix Jones
Kick-off: 2.30pm (GMT)
