ROME (AP) — Ireland kept alive its Six Nations title hopes by overcoming Italy 22-17 at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday.
The scrappy bonus-point win ensured France and England had to win their later matches to snuff out Ireland's slim hopes of an historic third consecutive title.
A week after Ireland was hammered by France in Dublin and lost control of its destiny, it endured a French hangover to regain the tournament lead. But after winning four of five matches, the Triple Crown holder could end the day where it started, in third place.
“It's five points that we needed," Ireland interim coach Simon Easterby said. "There's a little bit of disappointment that we didn't play at our best. Credit to Italy, they had a part to play in that.
“We coughed up too much possession and didn't make the most of some opportunities. We could have broken the back a little bit but we allowed them to stay in the game. The scoreline reflected it was tighter than it should have been.”
The Irish scored four tries to two in Rome and enjoyed 30-plus minutes with a man advantage but a clunky, deflated performance gave Italy hope of an upset.
Italy frequently found holes in the Irish defense but three yellow cards — one of them turning into a 20-minute red — undid all of its impressive work.
The highlight of Ireland's display was hooker Dan Sheehan's first test hat trick of tries, extending his men's Six Nations record for a forward to 13. Fullback Hugo Keenan could have had a hat trick, too, but one was ruled out and another wasn't given.
Italy should have led at halftime.
Winger Monty Ioane finished a try brilliantly engineered by Tommaso Menoncello and Paolo Garbisi, and Tommaso Allan converted and added a penalty.
Ireland replied with only a Keenan try assisted by flyhalf Jack Crowley, who converted.
Italy lost injured forwards Sebastian Negri, Lorenzo Cannone and Dino Lamb in the first 30 minutes but the team created four linebreaks to Ireland's one.
Then in the 39th minute, replacement flanker Michele Lamaro, the long-time Italy captain who was dropped for the match, was yellow-carded for needlessly tapping the ball out of the hands of Jamison Gibson-Park.
Ireland used the penalty and extra man for a lineout maul and Sheehan's first try to go into the break 12-10 up, then 17-10 afterward when Sheehan scored from another lineout maul.
Then just as Lamaro returned, with two tries conceded in his absence, teammate Ross Vintcent was yellow-carded for a head-on collision with Keenan. It was later upgraded to red.
Keenan should have had the next try, assisted by Crowley again, but it was chalked off because of a knock-on by captain Caelan Doris.
Sheehan followed with his hat trick when Gibson-Park's crossfield kick was tapped inside by a leaping Mack Hansen for the hooker, whose 13th try tied Keith Wood's Ireland forwards record.
However, while Ireland led 22-10 and Crowley was playing well in his first start since November, he missed a third straight conversion, two of them badly.
The missed conversions and bombed tries looked costly when Italy's Ange Capuozzo beautifully set up a try for Stephen Varney and Allan converted from the sideline. Italy trailed by five, never having been this close to Ireland in 11 years.
Sheehan left in the 70th to a standing ovation from the Irish fans, estimated to be more than 20,000.
Keenan went over again, late, but James Lowe was ruled to have stepped on the touchline, even though replays showed he didn't.
Italy's final fling unraveled when replacement hooker Giacomo Nicotera was sin-binned for a dangerous ruck clearout, confirming the team's 16th straight defeat to the Irish.
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The Associated Press
