Ireland ran in, a record breaking, nine tries against a woeful Italian side to record a 58 – 15 win in the Six Nations at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday afternoon. 

Andrew Trimble started the try fest to be closely followed by Jack McGrath, CJ Stander and Jamie Heaslip to wrap the game up before the break. Jared Payne, Heaslip, Sean Cronin, Ian Madigan and Fergus McFadden all crossed in the second half as did David Odiete and Leonardo Sarto for the Italians. 

There is really not a lot more to write about this embarrassingly one sided game. Heaslip’s first try was a nice flowing move involving Zebo, Payne, Sexton, Trimble and McFadden but the rest of the scores came from fairly standard plays. 

Ireland emptied the bench fairly early and Italy hit back with a couple of scores of their own and that’s about it. 

Joe Schmitt can justifiably claim full vindication for his selections for this game but for me it was little ventured, little gained. 

Ireland: Simon Zebo, Andrew Trimble, Jared Payne, Robbie Henshaw, Keith Earls, Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray, Jack McGrath, Rory Best, Mike Ross, Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner, CJ Stander, Josh van der Flyer, Jamie Heaslip. Replacement: Sean Cronin, Cian Healy, Nathan White, Ultan Dillane, Rhys Ruddock, Kieran Marmion, Ian Madigan, Fergus McFadden.