Late try saves Ireland from shock home defeat to Italy

Ireland’s Ben O Connor celebrates at the final whistle.

Ireland 23

Italy 22

Stephen Barry reports from Virgin Media Park

A SEÁN Edogbo try on his U20 Six Nations debut saved Ireland’s Grand Slam ambitions from a shock home defeat to Italy.

The younger brother of Munster rising star Edwin, who was watching on behind the Irish replacements, the Cobh man saved a potential Italian try on his introduction before racing clear to the corner for the 74th-minute winner.

His fellow Munster men Evan O’Connell and Ben O’Connor were the other try-scorers as Ireland didn’t get within reach of a bonus point, leaving them a point behind England in second.

Visiting winger Marco Scalabrin gave a virtuoso performance with two tries profiting from Irish errors, an assist for the third, and a heroic covering tackle to prevent another.

That put Italy in a position to snatch a victory no one saw coming against the back-to-back Grand Slam champions, fresh off their victory away to France, up until Edogbo’s intervention.

Even then, Italy, who lost their opener by 25 points to England, won a scrum penalty against the head as the clock ticked into the red. But with place-kickers Martino Pucciarello and Lorenzo Casilio off the pitch, they had to kick down the line and didn’t chance a drop at goal.

In the end, Ireland just held on as Italy spilt the ball forward when they worked it wide.

The win, however slight, takes Ireland’s run of Six Nations victories at this grade to 12, while their winning records over Italy and at home in Cork were both extended to 10 games.

The hosts showed a level of restraint and respect to their unfancied visitors when after some deliberation, Jack Murphy popped an easy three between the posts early on.

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Before long, Murphy was kicking to the corner, although Italy’s maul defence claimed a major turnover against a pack that had crossed for the opening try against France. The Irish execution was noticeably more ragged than in Provence last week.

That malaise appeared to affect other aspects of their play, with the scrum struggling, ruck speed sluggish, and a whopping 34 missed tackles (22% of all they attempted).

They still had all the early territory and burrowed over the line from a tap-and-go penalty. Captain Evan O’Connell stepped up to the mark to finish it off, with Murphy making it a 10-point lead.

But above all their misdemeanours, botched restarts would cost them most dearly. A knock-on gave Italy a scrum and they sliced straight through when Pucciariello picked out Scalabrin on his inside to weave through three defenders. Fly-half Pucciariello, the son of Munster European Cup winner Freddie, added the conversion.

Ireland moved 15-7 ahead when going wide after some maul gains, with Murphy’s skip pass and Wilhelm de Klerk’s offload creating for O’Connor to touch down.

The All-Ireland U20-winning hurler, back at the venue of his Munster Schools Senior Cup success last year, was the standout home performer but he couldn’t enjoy his first try at this level for long.

From the restart, the ball slipped through Joe Hopes’ hands and Scalabrin couldn’t be stopped by the time he bundled over O’Connor to score.

Pucciariello nailed the conversion and when he added a 34th-minute penalty, Italy were ahead, 15-17.

The visitors were reduced to 14 three minutes later. Cesare Zucconi was sent to the sin bin for not rolling away but Ireland turned down three points to exploit their numerical advantage. They fumbled forward, however, and Italy held their lead to the break.

If Ireland needed a fast start to the second half, they didn’t get it as Zucconi returned with his side’s lead still intact.

They were finally building phases in the Irish 22 until a Hugo McLaughlin intercept broke the siege. He looked like going all the way but Scalabrin showed his searing pace again to haul the Leinster winger down one metre short of the line.

Even when Ireland crossed the whitewash, a knock-on in the maul prevented the try.

A Lorenzo Ellettri intercept threatened to grow Italy’s lead but a last-gasp tackle by Finn Treacy saved their bacon.

The next time O’Connor forced a penalty error in the Italian half, there was no question about Murphy kicking for the posts. The lead was restored, 18-17.

That didn’t immediately settle home nerves as Edogbo, just on the field, was required to win a footrace back to his line to prevent Casilio from profiting due to another Irish error.

And Scalabrin’s excellence put Italy back ahead in the 66th minute. Four Irish defenders couldn’t put him down before offloading to Piero Gritti for the easiest of finishes. Casilio’s miss from his first kick left it at 18-22.

As Richie Murphy emptied his bench, it was great hands from replacement Ethan Graham that allowed Edogbo to become the Irish hero.

Scorers: Ireland: Tries: E O’Connell, B O’Connor, S Edogbo; Con: J Murphy; Pens: J Murphy 2. Italy: Tries: M Scalabrin 2; P Gritti; Cons: M Pucciarello 2; Pen: M Pucciarello.

IRELAND: Ben O’Connor; Finn Treacy, Wilhelm de Klerk, Hugh Gavin, Hugo McLaughlin (Ethan Graham 67); Jack Murphy (Seán Naughton 67), Oliver Coffey (Tadhg Brophy 65); Alex Usanov (Ben Howard 62), Stephen Smyth (Danny Sheahan 51), Jacob Boyd (Patreece Bell 51); Alan Spicer (Billy Corrigan 51), Evan O’Connell; Joe Hopes, Bryn Ward, Luke Murphy (Seán Edogbo 62).

ITALY: Mirko Belloni; Marco Scalabrin, Federico Zanandrea, Nicola Bozzo (Ferdinando Fusari 75), Lorenzo Elettri; Martino Pucciariello (Patrick de Villiers 65), Lorenzo Casilio (Mattia Jimenez 75); Federico Pisani (Sergio Pellicciolli 59), Nicholas Gasperini (Valerio Siciliano 65), Marcos Gallorini (Davide Ascari 75); Tommaso Redondi (Giacomo Milano 22), Piero Gritti; Cesare Zucconi, Luca Bellucci (Olmo D’Alessandro 75), Jacopo Botturi.

Yellow card: C Zucconi (37).

Referee: Jérémy Rozier (FFR).