Ireland passes 20-34 at the Olimpico, but an excellent Italy remains in the game until the end

Italy loses, as expected (20-34) but always narrowly and also against Ireland, masters of world rugby, confirms that the times of devastating defeats – or honourable, but with no light on the future – are behind us. We are no longer the mattress team, but a credible, tough opponent, also capable of playing good rugby, solid, aggressive, often spectacular. This time Capuozzo didn’t shine as usual, it wasn’t his game, but the two Cannone brothers, the Fischetti block, Negri, Ruzza, Menoncello up front and Bruno capable of scoring with an interception try at the end of the first half, the rocky Brex, Padovani, Pettinelli who came on in the second half – in short, many have shown that they are world-class players. And it’s a pity about the last Irish try, the fifth, the one that fixed the definitive score, which arrived only in the 70th minute after an authentic Green press that lasted 18 phases and was finalized by Mack Hansen (man of the match, his fourth too in the 34th minute ‘ of the first half which gave Ireland the offensive bonus), because until then Italy had remained in the game, after a break (20-27) and one step away from the defensive bonus.

Kieran Crowley’s XV suffered damnably in the meeting points, but he never gave up on the game plan, trying to slow down the game of the world’s Number Ones and speed up his own, even attacking from his own half. And again in the 77th minute she was under the Ireland posts to create play, after about ten minutes earlier, with a good team action unfortunately concluded inaccurately by a kick to Brex’s wing, she had come one step away from reopening sensationally the game. Ireland had excellent absences (Sexton and Ringrose) but are still the strongest team on the planet, and Italy has not disfigured in comparison.

Going under immediately after 2 minutes thanks to Ryan’s try (and even before that Keenan had wasted one with a diving forward), Italy knew how to react immediately by scoring in the 6th minute with Varney, good at exploiting a monumental break Lorenzo Cannone, also taking the lead thanks to the transformation of the returning Garbisi (7-5). In the 12th minute Ireland went ahead again with Keenan, and dug a furrow with the third and fourth goals in the moment of greatest difficulty for the blue, dragged by the hurricane Bundee Aki (19′). In the 40th minute Bruno’s flicker, always present, attentive and effective, took advantage of Aki’s distraction by sprinting towards the posts and setting the score at 17-24 in the middle of the game. At the beginning of the second half, Ireland tried to split the match, but Italy, despite conceding, didn’t collapse, on the contrary, they scored first in the 55th minute thanks to a goal from Garbisi (20-24) and continued to assert themselves in scrum, in mauls. So much so that in the 64th minute Ross Byrne, who replaced Jonny Sexton, preferred to place the free-kick to make it 20-27. Then the second Hansen stamp. Even with the substitutions, Italy still held up the assault, consolidating the excellent impression left by the first two matches.

Next week the Tournament stops for the second break, on the 11th in Rome against Wales he must absolutely aim for victory, then on the 18th there will be the conclusion in Edinburgh against Scotland.