Italy started well with penalties from McLean to lead Ireland 9-7 before a fighting Irish side woke up midway through the second half to score five tries and win 38-9 at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome.

No sooner had the match started than Masi went high on Kearney in the tackle, as he made a break on the left. Very dangerous: a yellow card and Italy was down to 14 after just one minute.

But Italy had come to play; they were lively and not just because of their usual enthusiasm. They clearly meant business and were very competitive.

The Azzurri won the first two lineouts, and took the Irish by surprise. After 4 minutes of playing one man down McLean kicked a penalty for 3-0.

Italy could have made more of our advantage, but were untidy. Despite that, a penalty for offside in the 15th minute gave McLean the kick for 6-0. Everything was going very well. Then the mistakes started happening. And to make things worse English referee White was too hard on the Italians.

Then came the disaster on 18'. A lovely move from a lineout, the ball went to Canale who lost it and Bowe gathered and sprinted away for the try which was converted by O'Gara.

Italy turned over possession too many times and Ongaro was hit hard for which McLean kicked the penalty for 9-7.

On 30' O'Gara kicked, Canale charged it down and took off but was illegally held by the Irish number 10. Yellow card for O'Gara, and a penalty for a 12-7 lead, but McLean missed.

The match was effectively over then. Perugini was sent to the sin-bin for an infringement in a scrum and Ireland turned up the pressure.

Italy repeatedly stopped the Irish on the 5 metre line. But eventually, after a very long passage of play, the Azzurri yielded on 40' when Fitzgerald found a hole and scored the second try, converted by Kearney. It was 9-14.

The second half began very badly for the Italians. Ongaro injured his left shoulder after 30 seconds, and 5 minutes later Ireland took advantage of a defence that was in some disarray.  9-19, that became 9-21 with O'Gara's kick. Italy were finshed; they had lost their confidence.

That is how it seemed from the terraces, and the match was effectively over after 8 minutes of the second half, when O'Gara kicked a penalty to make it 9-24. Ireland didn't even let us into their half until 25' as Griffin pierced the defence and recycled the ball after the tackle, but the kick through from Mirco went into touch with Bacchetti in pursuit.

It just got worse on 35': a quick lineout and no-one was there to stop Fitzgerald who scored without a hand on him. O'Gara converted to make it 9-31.

O'Driscoll scored a try on 37', when he intercepted a pass 65 metres out and cruised away to score: 9-36, which became 9-38 with O'Gara's conversion.

Italy will play Scotland at Murrayfield in their next Six Nations round 3 encounter. Good Luck Azzurri.

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	PD	Pts
	1	Galles	2	2	0	0	49	28	21	4
	2	England	2	1	0	1	51	34	17	2
	3	Irlanda	2	1	0	0	30	21	9	2
	4	Francia	2	1	0	1	43	43	0	2
	5	Scozia	1	0	0	1	26	48	-22	0
	6	Italia	1	0	0	1	11	36	-25	0

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