An underfire Ireland side squeezed out Italy 26-16 at a sunny Stadio Olimpico in Rome this afternoon, helped by Jacob Stockdale scoring his 14th international try in 17 tests.
Ireland turned the screw early on and were a try up after ten minutes. The pack put the ball through plenty of phases, tiring out the Italian defence allowing Chris Farrell to make the decisive line break. The ball was recycled and Quinn Roux crashed over under the sticks.
Italy built themselves into the game and converted a penalty after 15 minutes however they switched off from the kick off and Jacob Stockdale gathered, defeated a couple of defenders and crossed in the corner.
We’re yet to see Ireland fire on all cylinders in the tournament and there was more of the same in the first half. Mistakes gave the Italians field position and they duly accepted, Edoardo Padovani found himself in acres of space and brought the home side to within one point.
Another mistake compounded Ireland’s misery. Conor . . .
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