Ireland keep slim Six Nations hopes alive after narrow victory against Italy

It was a ropey performance from the reigning champions as they struggled for fluency against the Azzurri, but still managed to come away with a bonus-point success.

Hugo Keenan scored Ireland's other try of the game but three missed conversions from Jack Crowley gave Italy an opening and they came agonisingly close to victory.

Monty Ioane and Stephen Varney scored Italy's tries while Tommaso Allan converted both and fired over a penalty goal as the hosts picked up the losing bonus-point.

Ireland were out of sorts during the opening stanza and will have wondered how they went into the interval in front, this after they struggled for fluency against Italy.

It was a performance best summed up as clunky as they came off second best in most departments, except for the maul, which provided them with a half-ending score.

The Azzurri started the match in fine fashion as Tommaso Menoncello lit the touchpaper with a hard line before offloading to Paolo Garbisi, who sent wing Ioane over.

Mennoncello was causing Ireland problems with his big carries and made inroads again in the early stages, with Martin Page-Relo and Juan Ignacio Brex also on song.

However, Ireland's maul cut loose from the outset and after Finlay Bealham was denied a try a five-metre scrum saw Crowley beautifully set up Keenan for the leveller.

Italy were then dealt a double injury blow to go with Dino Lamb's earlier shoulder dislocation as both Lorenzo Cannone and Sebastian Negri came off after 30 minutes.

An Allan penalty after an obvious offside from Garry Ringrose helped to cushion those injuries for Italy, but they would rue a moment of ill-discipline before the half.

Replacement flanker Michele Lamaro was furious with himself for knocking the ball out of Jamison Gibson-Park's hand at the base of a ruck and received a yellow card before Ireland went for the jugular.

It paid off as their maul bore fruit again and this time the try stood as Sheehan was at the tail of a fast moving set-piece for a 12-10 lead.

Crucially Ireland backed up that try with a score soon after the resumption when a penalty went to the corner and the maul yet again steered Sheehan over for a brace.

And things would get immediately worse for Italy from the ensuing kick off when replacement Ross Vintcent made head on head contact with Keenan which resulted in a yellow card that was later upgraded to red by the bunker, thus compounding the Azzurriâ™s third-quarter woes that have hindered their Six Nations over recent weekends.

Ireland sensed their hosts were there for the taking and they duly racked up their bonus point score on 58 minutes when Gibson-Park found Mack Hansen with a cross-field kick and the wing batted it back to hooker Sheehan who completed his hat-trick. Crowley was wide from the tee and was replaced by Sam Prendergast shortly after.

Crowley's missed conversions were suddenly amplified when a moment of Ange Capuozzo magic led to Varney going over and with extras, Italy were in touch.

However, the Azzurri could not make their possession count at the death and a yellow card for replacement hooker Giacomo Nicotera ended their hopes of a shock win.

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