Italy 17-22 Ireland: Underwhelming visitors edge the Azzurri to keep Six Nations title hopes alive

Dan Sheehan's hat-trick helped Ireland come from behind to beat an ill-disciplined Italy 22-17 and take their Six Nations title hopes to the wire.

The result sent the Irish to the top of the table, requiring England and France to fail to beat Wales and Scotland respectively in the remaining games on Super Saturday if they are to seal a historic third straight title.

"Happy with five points, we probably needed a bit more points difference," Sheehan told ITV.

"I think they went after our breakdown quite well and we lacked accuracy, there was a lot of dropped balls. Fair play to Italy, I thought their game plan worked well and they put us under pressure. We got five points and it's up to the other teams now."

Simon Easterby's men put in an error-strewn performance, but managed to recover from an early Monty Ioane try with a score from Hugo Keenan.

The Azzurri had some moments of magic in front of a boisterous home crowd, but were let down by their discipline, with Michele Lamaro and Giacomo Nicotera earning yellow cards and Ross Vintcent getting a 20-minute red card.

That left the hosts up against it, and Sheehan powered over from the back of driving mauls either side of half-time to put the Irish ahead before grabbing a superb Mack Hansen knock-down to seal his hat-trick and Ireland's bonus point.

Stephen Varney's score from a clever Ange Capuozzo kick made it a one-score game once more to set up a grandstand finish, but Ireland survived a late flurry to take the five points.

The Premiership Rugby Cup final and the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) final both take place this weekend, with all the action live on TNT Sports and discovery+. 

Exeter Chiefs take on West Country rivals Bath Rugby at Sandy Park in the Premiership Rugby Cup final.

Chiefs booked their place in the final by dramatically coming from behind to beat Ealing Trailfinders 28-24, while Bath dispatched Newcastle Falcons 41-29 at Kingston Park to earn a chance to claim the first silverware of the season.

Elsewhere, Sunday’s PWR final will see Saracens and Gloucester-Hartpury lock horns at StoneX Stadium.

The latter are chasing a third consecutive title, a feat that would see them equal Saracens’ record as the competition’s most successful team. 

However, The Women in Black will be hoping to burst Gloucester-Hartpury’s bubble and win their first PWR crown since 2022. Find out more here:

Ireland legend Brian O'Driscoll was asked by ITV if this was a championship-winning performance.

"In a word, no," he said.

"Last week certainly wasn’t that. What it does show is how difficult this competition is. Ireland have gone and won four from five and there is every likelihood they could go and finish third.

"This was about getting the job done for Ireland, but there was very little to hang your hat on in terms of quality.

"There were errors, they lacked continuity and the timing of runs. Ireland looked a little bit like there was a hangover from last week, they look totally deflated." 

Ireland's hat-trick hero has been speaking to ITV after scooping the Player of the Match award.

"Happy with five points, we probably needed a bit more points difference," he said.

"I think they went after our breakdown quite well and we lacked accuracy, there was a lot of dropped balls. Fair play to Italy, I thought their gameplan worked well and they put us under massive pressure. We got five points and it's up to the other teams now."

Ireland needed a BP win, and that is what they got in Rome. However, they were miles below their usual standards. The cohesion and connections that have typified this Irish side in recent years were replaced by a sense of confusion.

From poor conversions to handling errors, wild passes to a lack of line breaks, this was not a performance that Easterby will be happy with regardless of the result.

It got the Irish what they needed in terms of staying in the title mix, but what will it mean for the stock of some of these Irish players when Lions selection comes around?

Finishing their campaign with a heavy home defeat to France and this sloppy performance in Rome could well mean that Andy Farrell's selection isn't quite as green-tinted as we expected before the Championship began.

Super Saturday part one is done, and now it's all about Cardiff, where England face Wales looking to leapfrog Ireland in the standings and put all the pressure on France, who face Scotland in the third and final match.

We have live updates from that one at the Principality Stadium already underway right here.

That is that, as Prendergast asks the referee if time is up, gets the approval, and boots the ball out. The crowd don't like it, but Ireland have just about done enough to get the bonus-point they needed.

The clock is stopped at 79:43 as another moment of Italian ill-discipline comes under review, Nicotera throwing himself into a ruck and shouldering an Irishman in the head in the process. It's yet another yellow card and that is probably that for the hosts' hopes of a dramatic late win.

The crowd roars again as the fleet-footed Capuozzo gets on the ball out wide, but his offload to Allan doesn't stick!

Quesada can't believe it - he thought that might have been the moment. Pearce is going to check something though...

Here come Italy! Sub Marin makes a burst down the right to take the Azzurri into the Irish 22 and the crowd soon starts up a chant in response.

But there's a collective groan in the Olimpico when they lose the ball and Ireland have the chance to clear via Murray's boot.

Ireland try to go wide, but yet another error stops their momentum. This time it's sub Prendergast who flings a pass out of play.

Can Italy take advantage of these mistakes? Three minutes to go...

Keenan scored what would've been his hat-trick try directly off the back of that. At best, the edge of Lowe's boot grazes the paint, but it looked like he might have been in.

Anyway, with four minutes to go, Ireland have a scrum midway into the Italian half.

Lowe tries to bulldoze over Capuozzo on his way to the try line and he doesn't make a bad effort of it, but the wing steps out of play. Or did he? It looks very close...

Italy lineout is the call.

Hooker Nicotera is the one to come on for Italy as Vintcent is not allowed to return following his 20-minute red.

Sheehan's very productive day is over, as he comes off for McCarthy.

Another Irish knock-on stops the clock and Italy are able to get back to 15 men for the first time in this second half as Vintcent's sin bin period ends. There is a big cheer for Cian Healy too, who comes up on the big screen. He's the third retiring Irish legend but isn't in the squad today.

Another BIG reception from the Rome crowd as Murray comes on for the last time as an Ireland player, replacing Gibson-Park.

Prendergast is also on for Crowley, while Boyle replaces Porter.

That's more like it from 14-man Italy, who send the home crowd wild with a superb score out of nothing. Capuozzo is the creator, darting down the wing and knocking a chip in behind. It evades an Irish defender with the bounce and Varney is on hand to dot down.

Allan knocks over the conversion superbly and all of a sudden it's a five-point game!

It's a Sheehan hat-trick and an Ireland bonus point! Gibson-Park sends a cross-field kick to Hansen, who superbly gets the offload away in mid-air for the hooker to dot down in the corner.

A reminder of Ireland's wonderful skill and execution there. Not so much Crowley, who is again off target from the tee. He's not had a good day in that sense.

Apologies, a correction is due here amid the madness - Vintcent was upgraded to a 20-minute red card, so we will see him again in just over 10 minutes' time.

A few subs to report now. Zilocchi and Spagnolo are on for Ferrari and Fischetti in the Italian front row.

Aki is on for Henshaw, to the delight of the travelling supporters.