Under-21 international/Ireland 33; Italy 0: It finished as people thought it should. Italian teams coming to Thomond Park on drizzling nights like this are rarely made to feel comfortable and Richard Lane's hat-trick for Ireland in a heavily one-sided game helped to make it so.
What more is there to say? Ireland won well, won with only a few early difficulties, all of their own making, and put the game to bed midway through the second half. If only it were always so simple.
Ireland arrived in Limerick having drawn with France in their opening match of the competition before going on to beat last year's Grand Slam champions, Wales, in Galway. They then lost to a strong English side before last night's handsome victory.
Following on from the England defeat, former Ireland centre and current under-21 coach Mark McCall made four main changes to the side, a couple of them forced. Left wing Tommy Bowe and centre Glen Telford were both sidelined because of injury while Wasps scrumhalf Robbie Shaw was brought in for Tommy O'Leary. Cork Constitution blind-side flanker Brendan O'Connor came through his fitness test and started at the expense of Kevin McLaughlin.
Right from the off Ireland showed their willingness to run the ball, with only first-minute nerves forcing a wayward pass as Italy back-pedalled and the ball skittered just out of reach of winger Paul McKenzie steaming down the left.
Within four minutes, however, the upbeat start was justly rewarded as the Queen's outhalf Gareth Steenson popped up the ball in midfield just outside the Italian 22 for the strong-running right wing Richard Lane. Lane's bulk and pace took him through the narrow gap between the Italian centres and in under the posts, Steenson converting for 7-0 after five minutes.
Ireland persisted in that vein for the first quarter. They out-rucked and out-mauled the Italians and had the lion's share of possession. But from it they got little enough, occasionally over-eagerness denying them the last crisp pass and, sometimes, the best option.
The danger Ireland faced was that Italy might construct a decent break and level the scores. Certainly on the right wing Ludovico Nitoglia showed a few twists to his running, but Italy's most strenuous efforts went into repelling the Irish.
While Ireland may not have been racking up the scores, damage was clearly being done and when scrumhalf Giulio Tonilatti was binned for killing ball, Ireland capitalised. A missed penalty on 29 minutes was a temporary frustration but a rolling maul nine minutes later at last bore fruit, tight head prop Keith Doyle touching down as Ireland drove over, Steenson converting for a 14-0 lead at the break.
McCall's team stepped it up immediately in the second half. From the kick-off, the ball was moved left to right, Lane again just getting a step of the Italian covering wing Valerio Santillo and full back Alessio Galante and touching down. Steenson kicked a difficult conversion for 21-0.
Three minutes later Trinity number eight Jamie Heaslip touched down from another rolling maul in the right corner and suddenly, from struggling to find scores, Ireland were 26-0 up.
Italy did put on a squeeze for 10 minutes, but it proved their undoing. Midway through the half, Lane pounced on a loose pass, ran 60 yards and grabbed his third, Ireland's fifth, with a flourish. Man of the match? Of course.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 5 mins: R Lane try, G Steenson con 7-0; 38: K Doyle try, Steenson con 14-0. Half-time: 14-0. 41: Lane try, Steenson con 21-0; 44: J Heaslip try 26-0. 55: Lane try, Steenson con 33-0
IRELAND: A Finn (Dolphin); R Lane (UCC), J Hearty (Blackrock), B O'Donnell (UL Bohemians), P McKenzie (Loughborough); G Stenson (QUB), R Shaw (Wasps); J Wickham (Clontarf), D Fogarty (Cork Con), K Doyle (UCD), D Gannon (Blackrock), S O'Connor (Cork Con), B O'Connor (Cork Con), O Hennessy (Dungannon), J Heaslip (TCD). Replacements: T O'Leary (Cork Con) for Shaw and D O'Brien (Old Belvedere) for Hennessy (49 mins); N McComb (Dundee HSFP) for S O'Connor (60 mins); S Bennet (Bath) for Doyle and M Clancy (Loughborough) for Steenson (66 mins); C Geoghegan (UCD) for Gogarty (70 mins); G Stafford (Lansdowne) for O'Donnell (72 mins).
ITALY: A Galante; L Nitoglia, A Chillon, N Pavin, V Santillo; A Marcato, G Tonilatti; L Milani, F Grosso, F Staibano, T Reato, V Bernabo, L Ghiraldini, E Leonardi, A Zanni. Replacements: R Assandri for Galante and A Donati for Milani (44 mins); R Barbieri for Reato (59 mins); C Spadaro for Pavin (62 mins). M Pitton for Toniolatti (64 mins).
Referee: N Owens (WRU).
