- Italy started the strongest but Ireland recovered to lead after a frantic first half
- Ireland secured their bonus point and survived a late scare to do the business
- They will now require England and France to lose to win the 2025 Six Nations
Hooker Dan Sheehan scored a hat-trick of tries as champions Ireland laboured to a 22-17 bonus-point victory over hosts Italy on Saturday to move top of the Six Nations table and retain a chance of winning the title.
Ireland have 19 points from five matches having completed their campaign with four victories, and must now hope Wales upset England in Cardiff and Scotland beat France in Paris later on Saturday to claim a third Six Nations crown in a row.
Full-back Hugo Keenan also crossed for a try as Ireland failed to finish numerous other entries into the Italy 22 in a scrappy display that was a last in international rugby for retiring loose-forward Peter O’Mahony and scrumhalf Conor Murray.
Italy played for half an hour with 14 players after yellow cards for Michele Lamaro and Giacomo Nicotera, and a 20-minute red for Ross Vintcent, but managed tries through winger Monty Ioane and scrumhalf Stephen Varney in a spirited end to their campaign.
It was job done for Ireland with their five-point haul, but as with much of this Six Nations campaign under stand-in coach Simon Easterby, the performance was far from convincing.
Italy were much improved on what has gone before in this campaign and will avoid the wooden spoon if Wales do not get two points from their fixture against England.
Monty Ioane opened the scoring for Italy as the hosts started on top against the title hopefuls
Ireland sought a quick response but saw their first score ruled out for a double movement
They eventually found a leveller through Hugo Keenan before Dan Sheehan gave them the lead
Sheehan added two more tries to his tally to bag a hat-trick on the tournament’s final day
Steven Varney dealt Ireland a late scare as a defensive error put Italy within five points
The visitors managed to survive to come out victors, with all eyes now on England and France
Tommaso Allan’s long-range penalty gave Italy the advantage again, but Ireland led 12-10 at halftime as, after Lamaro’s deliberate knock-down at a ruck and subsequent yellow card, the visitors mauled their way over for Sheehan to score.
Ireland camped in the Italy 22 at the start of the second period and were rewarded with a second score that was a carbon copy of their first as Sheehan was at the back of a rolling maul.
Vintcent received a yellow card, later upgraded to a 20-minute red on bunker review, for head-on-head contact with Keenan as the replacement flanker was too upright in the tackle.
Sheehan scored his third try when he collected Mack Hansen’s tap-back from a Jamison Gibson-Park kick to complete his hat-trick.
Ireland should have been out of sight, but Jack Crowley’s three missed conversions kept their hosts in the game.
