Bench press helps Ireland avoid shock first home loss to Italy in Six Nations Championship

IRELAND extended their unbeaten home record against Italy in the Six Nations to 14 games after surviving a major scare in a hard fought 20-13 victory at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Ireland trailed the Italians at home in a Six Nations fixture for the first time when departing to the dressing rooms 5-10 in arrears.

Italy, boosted by their victory over Scotland in Rome a week earlier, were full vanue for their lead at the break and a shock away win looked like a distinct possibility.

However, Ireland turned in an improved second half showing, outscoring their opponents 15-3 in that second period to record a much needed victory ahead of a demanding trip to London to face England next weekend.

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The impact Ireland got from their bench was a key factor in secjuring this hard fought win. Munster out-half Jack Crowley made a significant contribution when sprung from the bench as did his provincial captain Tadhg Beirne.

Scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park also helped lift the tempo when introduced for the closing half an hour.  

Munster's highly-rated second-row Edwin Odogbo made his international debut when introduced as a replacement with 10 minutes remaining. 

Rob Baloucoune was excellent on his Six Nations debut, scoring a secind half try, while James Lowe and Stuart McCloskey were also among the standoutmperformers for the home side.

Ireland's scrum was a source of concern against a formidable Italian pack and ahead of next weekend's trip to London.

Ireland mde six changes to the team - and a further three to the bench - from last week's disappointing defeat away to France.

Ireland hit the front on 17 minutes with Italian winger Louis Lynagh in the sin-bin for a deliberate knock down of a pass which prevented a line-break.

Centre Gary Ringrose pulled a pass back to McCloskey, who spun out of the tackle, freeing his arms up to give full-back Jamie Osborne an easy run in.

It should have been a straight forward conversion for out-half Sam Prendergast, but he pulled it wide.

Italy, to their credit, hit back quickly and out-half Paolo Garbisi landed a penaoty goal to leave two points between the sides at 5-3 at the end of the first quarter.

With Lynagh returned to the fray, it was Ireland's turn to lose a player to the sin-bin as scrum-half Craig Casey was yellow-carded for a tackle on Lorenzo Cannone.

Italy made the most of their numerical advantage when the visitors struck for their opening try through hooker Giacomo Nicotera from a well-executed maul.

Garbisi added the extras to lead 10-5, an advantage the visitors maintained until half-time. Indeed it was the Italians who were pushing to increase their advantage as half-time approached.

It was the first time that Ireland had trailed at home to Italy going into the half-time break in the Six Nations. Ireland had led in the fixture in Dublin on 12 previous occasions and were level once, back in 2006.

However, sensing their impressive record at home to the Italy was in real danger, to their credit, Ireland began the second half with a greater degree of urgency and their endeavour was rewarded when number eight Jack Conan barged over from close range soon after the restart.

However, Prendergast was again off target with the conversion attemt as the sides remained tied 10-10 after 43 minutes.

Ireland had a major let off then in the 52nd minute when the Italians looked to have breached their defence for a second time in the afternoon. However, Lynagh's score was chalked off after the TMO deemed that Tommaso Menoncello's pass in the lead up had been forward.

The Ireland support breathed a collective sigh of relief at Lansdowne Road as a result. 

Italy continued to push, however, enjoying the lionshsare of possession and pressure. Ireland introduced Tadhg Beirne, Jamison Gibson-Park and Ronan Kelleher in a bid to wrestle back lost momentum.

And the boost of energy from the bench seemed to pay quick dividends as winger Robert Balacoune dotted down after some excellent inter-play by backs and forward with a clever pass from McClockey a key element in the score.

Replacement out-half Jack Crowley added the extras and a subsequent penalty just after the hour mark to push Ireland into a two-score advantage at 20-10.

However, any thoughts the home support might have had of enjoying a more comfortable final quarter were dispelled with Garbisi landed a further penalty to leave just seven points between the sides with 14 minutes remaining. 

Ireland did manage to repel late pressure from the visitors before finishing the game inside the Italian '22. Phew.

SCORERS: Ireland: Jamie Osborne, Jack Conan, Robert Baloucoune try each, Jack Crowley con, pen. Italy: Giacomo Nicotera try, Paolo Garbisi two pens, con.

IRELAND: Jamie Osborne; Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Craig Casey; Jeremy Loughman, Dan Sheehan, Thomas Clarkson; Joe McCarthy, James Ryan; Cormac Izuchukwu, Caelan Doris (capt), Jack Conan. Replacements: Tadhg Furlong for Clarkson (half-time), Roan Kelleher for Sheehan, Tadhg Beirne for McCarthy, Jamison Gibson-Park for Casey (all 52 mins), Jack Crowley for Prendergast (56 mins), Nick Timoney for Izuchukwu (59 mins), Tom O'Toole for Loughman (67 mins), Edwin Odogbo for Ryan (70 mins).

ITALY: Lorenzo Pani; Louis Lynagh, Leonardo Marin, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Fusco; Danilo Fischetti, Giacomo Nicotera, Simone Ferrari; Niccolo Cannone, Andrea Zambonin; Michele Lamaro (capt), Manuel Zuliani, Lorenzo Cannone. Replacements: Tommaso di Bartolomeo for Nicotera, Mirco Spagnolo for Fischetti, Muhamed Hasa for Ferrari (all 60 mins), Federico Ruzza for Zambonin (61 mins), Alessandro ‌Garbisi for Fusco (63 mins), Paolo Odogwu for Marin, Riccardo Favretto for N Cannon (both 66 mins).

REFEREE: Hollie Davidson (SRU)