A second half hat trick from Jordan Larmour helped Ireland towards a comfortable victory in their opening Autumn International.

Garry Ringrose, Sean Cronin, Luke McGrath and a brace from Tadhg Beirne rounded off an eight-try display from Ireland.

Unlike Ulster earlier, Ireland imposed themselves on Italy in the early stages. Jacob Stockdale made a burst after gathering the kick off and Ireland worked the ball into the Italian 22. The jinking feet from Garry Ringrose worked space around the fringes of the ruck but the Leinsterman was unable to ground the ball. The try arrived in Ireland’s second visit to the Italian 22 with Tadhg Beirne scoring his first international try after five minutes.

After a frantic start by Ireland, Italy grew into the game, but I always felt that Ireland were comfortable with what Conor O’Shea’s side was offering in attack. Their offloading game was causing some uncertainty within the Irish ranks as they kept the ball tight in the forwards, however one offload too many was often tried leading to a loss of possession for Italy.

A piece of magic from Jordan Larmour reignited a half that was fizzling out. The Leinsterman exploited space around the ruck and a pass to team mate, Luke McGrath, ensured a relatively easy try for the scrum half. However, Ireland lost their focus in the last minute of the half. Michele Campagnaro intercepted an attempted wraparound from Ireland’s forwards to score his side’s opening points of the game.

Ireland’s accuracy increased in the second half and it showed with six tries. Tadhg Beirne picked a superb line three minutes after the restart to score his second try of the match. A second try arrived two minutes later. Larmour was rewarded for his hard work after picking off a poor pass from Italy’s try scorer, Campagnaro. Sean Cronin made an impact off the bench with a try from a superbly set up maul 14 minutes later.

A second try for Jordan Larmour followed with 18 minutes left on the clock. The 21 year old bamboozled two defenders to give himself a clear run to the line. Garry Ringrose added Ireland’s 7th try after great running from Bundee Aki. Larmour completed his hat trick on the final whistle with another dazzling run that beat three Italian defenders. The conversion from Ross Byrne was unsuccessful leaving the final score 54-7 in favour of Ireland.

In the end it was a fairly routine victory for Ireland. Italy struggled with Ireland’s power and this result lays down a good basis to push on and make this a successful Autumn series.