Italy vs Ireland Six Nations as it happened: CJ Stander and Craig Gilroy star in easy nine-try victory
Ireland made light work of a limited Italy at the Stadio Olimpico
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Your support makes all the difference.Ireland bounced back from their opening day defeat to Scotland by annihilating Italy at the Stadio Olimpico, running in nine tries as both CJ Stander and second-half substitute Craig Gilroy scored hat-tricks.
Italy were awarded a penalty try in the first-half, but had absolutely no answer to Ireland in the second, as they conceded five tries without reply.
Relive the live action below...
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Preview...
Italy and Ireland will hope to get off the mark when they meet in Roma after both teams made losing starts to the Six Nations championship , though Joe Schmidt’s side head to Italy as heavy favourites for the encounter.
Ireland suffered something of an upset in the Six Nations curtain-raiser last weekend as they left Scotland on the wrong end of a 27-22 result at Murrayfield. Having entered the championship as second favourites behind England, the Irish saw their Grand Slam hopes end just 80 minutes into the tournament, and are now required to win all four of their remaining matches if they are to have any chance of winning the championship.
Italy meanwhile were leading Wales at half-time in Rome, only to concede 30 unanswered points after the break to suffer a disappointing 33-7 loss to Wales.
The Italians last beat Ireland 22-15 in the 2013 Six Nations , and will hope to repeat the feat if they are to capitalise on their home advantage this year, having already seen one of their three chances to win at the Stadio Olimpico go begging last week.
Here’s everything you need to know about the match.
When is it?
Italy vs Ireland kicks off at 14:25 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Where can I watch it?
The match will be shown live on ITV from 13:30, with highlights on ITV from 22:20. You can also follow the match with The Independent’s live blog here.
Past three meetings...
Ireland 58 Italy 15, Six Nations, March 2016.
Ireland 16 Italy, Rugby World Cup, October 2015.
Italy 3 Ireland 26, Six Nations, February 2015.
Form...
Italy: LWLWLL
Ireland: LWWLWL
Odds...
Italy to win: 23/2
Wales to win: 1/25
Draw: Half-odds
(Odds provided by 888 Sport)
Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of the Six Nations clash between Italy and Ireland, which takes place at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Ireland’s campaign began with an underwhelming 27-22 defeat to Scotland last weekend, and their coach, Joe Schmidt, has demanded a vastly improved performance against the Azzurri. “I think it’s incredibly disappointing the way we started last weekend,” Schmidt told reporters this week. “And I have challenged them for a better start in Italy.”
Italy will also be hoping to bounce back from a defeat after their comprehensive 33-7 drubbing at the hands of Wales. Conor O’Shea has made four changes to his starting XV, and was relieved to see influential captain Sergio Parisse recover from a neck injury in time to maintain his place in the side.
Kick-off is at 14.25 and we’ll be bringing you full build-up from 14.00, so please make sure to join us then.
An early blow for Ireland this morning with the news coming in that captain Rory Best has not recovered from the stomach bug he picked up yesterday, and he's been replaced in the front-row by Niall Scannell with James Tracy added to the replacements' bench.
TEAM NEWS
Italy: 15-Edoardo Padovani, 14-Angelo Esposito, 13-Tommaso Benvenuti, 12-Luke Mclean, 11-Giovanbattista Venditti, 10-Carlo Canna, 9-Edoardo Gori; 1-Andrea Lovotti, 2-Leonardo Ghiraldini, 3-Lorenzo Cittadini, 4-Marco Fuser, 5-Andries Van Schalkwyk, 6-Maxime Mbanda, 7-Simone Favaro, 8-Sergio Parisse (captain).
Replacements: 16-Ornel Gega, 17-Sami Panico, 18-Dario Chistolini, 19-George Biagi, 20-Abraham Steyn, 21-Giorgio Bronzini, 22-Tommaso Allan, 23-Michele Campagnaro.
Ireland: 15-Rob Kearney, 14-Keith Earls, 13-Garry Ringrose, 12-Robbie Henshaw, 11-Simon Zebo, 10-Paddy Jackson, 9-Conor Murray; 1-Cian Healy, 2-Niall Scannell, 3-Tadhg Furlong, 4-Donnacha Ryan, 5-Devin Toner, 6-CJ Stander, 7-Sean O'Brien, 8-Jamie Heaslip (captain).
Replacements: 16-James Tracy, 17-Jack McGrath, 18-John Ryan, 19-Ultan Dillane, 20-Josh van der Flier, 21-Kieran Marmion, 22-Ian Keatley, 23-Craig Gilroy.
Another notable name missing from Ireland’s team sheet is Johnny Sexton, who was also absent for the 27-22 loss to Scotland.
As The Independent revealed earlier this week, Ireland are steadfastly refusing to gamble on the fitness of their fly-half:
Sexton has not played since Leinster's 24-24 draw at Castres on January 20, but Ireland still expect the 31-year-old to be ready to face France in Dublin on February 25.
Ireland have a particularly notorious fan cheering them on this afternoon
Italian head coach Conor O’Shea was determined to remain positive in the light of Italy’s heavy defeat to Wales last time out, and in his weekly news conference the Irishman – who coached both London Irish and Harlequins before joining up with the Azurri – insisted that the nation are moving in the right direction.
"It would be easy to look at last week's result and say 'It's the same old Italy'. I can guarantee that it is not," O'Shea said.
"Changing the mindset has to be our goal in the short term. I am sure the group has the right potential for the future, but we have to change attitudes and improve our play."
Joe Schmidt has meanwhile been worrying that O’Shea will use his inside knowledge of Ireland’s tactical set-up as Italy seek to bounce back in the second week of the Six Nations.
Schmidt is worried O'Shea has inside information on his team
“I would have had a lot of discussions with Conor about coaching," Schmidt said earlier in the week.
“We trained with Harlequins in the World Cup which was great fun and great preparation.
“I think Conor got a good look at how we train and what we try to do. He potentially can use that to his advantage now.”
The two teams are out on the pitch! And before the national anthems, tributes are being paid to the legendary South African scrum-half Joost van der Westhuizen, who tragically died this week.
A true legend of the game.
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