Under-20 Six Nations/ Italy 25 Ireland 36: Grand Slam champions, a remarkable achievement not just in the context of this victory in the faded splendour of the Benevento soccer stadium, but in the five- match odyssey that saw the Ireland Under-20 team become only the second in the country's rugby history to achieve the feat, emulating the senior team of 1948.

Their campaign has been underpinned by courage and character, values which were once again in evidence in Italy yesterday. There's no doubting the individual or collective ability that lurks within this group of players, but to maximise their potential, the group had to marry the physical and the cerebral.

Once again they endured a sluggish start to a match, the nightmare of the opening 40 minutes against Scotland revisited, where error upon error, coupled with indiscipline, handed the Italians a 20-7 advantage approaching half-time.

This Ireland side is nothing if not resilient and they simply cut down on the mistakes, piled on consistent pressure and finally expressed their talent, individually and collectively.

In a 20-minute period either side of half-time they simply blew the Italians away, exposing midfield defensive frailty with ruthless precision and flair.

In that period the noisy group of parents and Ireland fans were once again treated to some scintillating rugby. There have been flashes and snatches in previous games just as there was in this one that when the team get it right, they're impossible to subdue.

It would be churlish not to record that they faced an Italian team that were a year older (under 21) and had also beaten Scotland and Wales in this season's Six Nations championship. It's a reasonable pedigree when you are defending your own citadel.

The Italians also benefited from an ideal opening to their game, partially attributable to their own good devices, partially to Ireland's lapses, and they most definitely had the benefit of some interesting interpretations from French referee David Rosich.

But as the fates seem to conspire against Ireland, they simply delved deeper to source their own solution.

It's important to preface individual praise by highlighting a superb team performance in the middle of this match. There were many exceptional cameos, from Seapoint fullback Felix Jones's brilliant individual try just before half-time that kick-started the revival to the consistently outstanding contributions of Cian Healy, Paul O'Donohue, Kevin Sheahan and hooker Richard Sweeney.

They were indefatigable in sweltering weather, the brilliant sunshine demanding its own physical toll. The pack survived a physical grilling in the opening 20 minutes in which they conceded a pushover try to Italian number eight and captain Paul Derbyshire and a lineout maul than ended in a touchdown for flanker Natale Duca.

The latter's namesake Davide Duca offered an excellent place-kicking display to boot, and with the score at 20-7, it appeared Ireland's Grand Slam aspirations were going to be unfulfilled.

The visitors' contribution to the scoreboard at that point came from Healy's powerful surge from close-in and Ian Keatley's conversion. But the inspirational David Pollock rallied his team by word and deed and how they responded.

When Thomas Anderson was harshly sin-binned on 30 minutes, the portents looked grim, even more so when the excellent Darren Cave dropped a try- scoring pass following clever work in midfield. But Jones's brilliant try, after a clever inside pass from O'Donohue, just before half-time and an equally fine individual effort from Cave one minute after the restart - Keatley converted the latter - brought Ireland to within a point at 20-19.

It wasn't only Italian heads that dropped as they coughed up the ball in overcomplicating a move on Ireland's 22-metre line, allowing Keatley to race 80 metres for a try that he himself improved upon.

The outhalf tagged on a penalty following another sweeping counterattack and at 29-20, the momentum was Ireland's, a fact confirmed on 57 minutes when O'Donohue scampered through a gap for yet another try.

The visitors were prising holes all over the pitch, driving into the Italians back with and without the ball. They had obliterated the home side's lineout for most of the match and denied that platform, Italy didn't really have a way back into the contest.

To their credit the home side, galvanised by a sustained bout of Irish indiscipline, at least in referee Rosich's eyes, managed to get a foothold and were rewarded with a third try from Tito Tebaldi two minutes from the end of normal time.

Given the number of replacements, it wasn't a surprise Ireland lost a little of their cohesion but the victory had already been assured.

In acknowledging the contribution of the players, plaudits are also due to the management team, in particular coach Eric Elwood and his assistant, Dan McFarland.

What a first season in charge of a national underage side! It'll be difficult to top a Grand Slam.

Elwood smiled: "It's been brilliant and what this squad has achieved is really special. I obviously played for Ireland, in World Cups as well as the championship, but this is probably the best day in terms of my involvement with the sport. To win a Triple Crown and Grand Slam is just brilliant. It's a special, special day.

"There were times - the first 20 minutes - when we caused ourselves problems and we had to overcome some other issues but the boys responded superbly."

They've done it all season and so it is apposite that they should do so in Benevento and claim a place in Irish rugby folklore.

Scoring sequence:1 min: Davide Duca pen, 3-0; 5: Derbyshire try, Davide Duca con, 10-0; 17: Healy try, Keatley con, 10-7; 22: Natale Duca try, Davide Duca con, 17-7; 36: Duca pen, 20-7; 40(+1): Jones try, 20-12. Half-time: 20-12. 41: Cave try, Keatley con, 20-19; 48: Keatley try, Keatley con, 20-26; 54: Keatley pen, 20-29; 57: O'Donohue try, Keatley con, 20-36; 78: Tebaldi try, 25-36.

ITALY:G Rubini; M Sepe, A Sgarbi, D Duca, G Pavan; E Ceccatoi, F Semenzato; P Sciamanna, D Giazzon, A de Marchi; A Saccardo, L Beccaris; N Duca, F Cristiano, P Derbyshire (capt). Replacements: F Flamini for Derbyshire (29-31 mins); R Paven for Sepe (46 mins); N Gatto for Giazzon (51 mins); T Tebaldi for G Pavan (55 mins); L Giovanchelli for di Marchi (66 mins); E Ceccato for Sciamana (69 mins); F Minto for Saccardo (75 mins).

IRELAND:F Jones (Seapoint); S Monahan (Dublin University), D Cave (Belfast Harlequins), A Wynne (Buccaneers), K Earls (Thomond); I Keatley (UCD), P O'Donohue (UCD); C Healy (Clontarf), R Sweeney (St Mary's College), J Hagan (Greystones); C McInerney (UCD), A Browne (Galwegians); T Anderson (Dungannon), K Sheahan (UCD), D Pollock (capt). Replacements: K Tonetti (Blackrock) for Cave (36-40(+2) mins); R Murphy (Lansdowne) for Hagan (55 mins); N Keogh (UCC) for Browne (67 mins); E Grace (Shannon) for Sheahan, D Drake for O'Donohue (both 70 mins); Tonetti for Monahan (75 mins); G Slattery (Young Munster) for Sweeney (81mins); N O'Connor for Keatley (83 mins). Sinbinned: T Anderson (30 mins); C McInerney (77 mins).

Referee: D Rosich (France).