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Ireland went top of the Six Nations table with a 38-9 victory over Italy at Rome’s Stadio Flaminio on Sunday.
The Emerald Isle never came close to the heights they reached a week ago in their thrilling 30-21 defeat of France but they didn’t have to as Italy once again shot themselves in the foot.
After a mere 45 seconds, Italian fullback Andrea Masi was sin-binned for a high tackle on his opposite number Robert Kearney.
And while they survived that initial blow, it was a string of mistakes that caused the lopsided scoreboard, which didn’t reflect the true nature of the game.
Australian-born Italy flyhalf Luke McLean kicked over a penalty on four minutes for a 3-0 lead and doubled their advantage on 16 minutes with another penalty.
However, the Italians made a costly mistake on 19 minutes when Tommy Bowe picked off a long pass from Paul Griffen aimed at Mirco Bergamasco and ran 55 metres before touching down.
Ronan O’Gara kicked the extra points but McLean continued his impeccable place-kicking on 24 minutes to give the hosts a 9-7 lead.
O’Gara was then sin-binned just past the half hour mark for tackling Gonazalo Canale without the ball but McLean narrowly missed the resultant penalty.
Ireland continued their tactic of going for the try despite being in penalty territory and, when Salvatore Perugini was also shown yellow late on in the half, Stephen Ferris broke the line after 18 phases and offloaded to Luke Fitzgerald to touch down for his first international try seconds before the break.
Kearney kicked the extra two points as underdogs Italy turned around with a morale-sapping 14-9 deficit.
And within seven minutes of the restart things had gone from bad to worse for the hosts as Griffen missed a tackle on marauding No.8 Jamie Heaslip who strode to within a metre of the line and, a couple of phases later, flanker David Wallace scored.
O’Gara’s conversion made it 21-9 to the visitors.
In the final five minutes two more mistakes were ruthlessly punished by Ireland to give the score a lopsided look.
Italy switched off at a line-out that Fitzgerald took quickly to Gordon D’Arcy before accepting the return ball and going over for his second try of the game.
And moments later Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll picked off a long pass from Masi aimed at Bergamasco before running unopposed 55 metres to score and move into second on the all-time Six Nations tryscoring list with 19.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.