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Dan Sheehan scored a hat-trick of tries as Ireland maintained their slender hopes of retaining the Six Nations on Saturday by beating Italy in Rome.
The Irish triumphed 22-17 for the bonus-point victory they needed to go three points clear of favourites France, but Simon Easterby’s charges still need results to go their way later on “Super Saturday” in order to secure a third straight tournament crown.
It pushed the men from the Emerald Isle to the top of the championship table on 19 points; however, France and England can both overtake them if they beat Scotland and Wales, respectively.
Ireland were far from their brilliant best at the Stadio Olimpico but Sheehan proved the difference with two tries from rolling mauls and another from an excellent Mack Hansen assist.
Italy, who played with 14 men for almost half the match thanks to one red and one yellow card, scored the first try through Monty Ioane before Hugo Keenan responded and Sheehan scored three.
Stephen Varney replied for Italy and the deficit was just five points as the game headed into the final 10 minutes but Ireland held on for a crucial win.
A hat trick for Dan Sheehan 🔥😎#GuinnessM6N @IrishRugby pic.twitter.com/M5Jwq1YJpP
— Guinness Men’s Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 15, 2025
Tommaso Menoncello broke through a tackle midway inside Ireland’s half and offloaded to Paolo Garbisi, springing the flyhalf into space. Garbisi prodded through a kick for Ioane to chase and dot down. Tommaso Allan’s conversion from tight to the left touchline made it 7-0.
Ireland’s start was sloppy but their forwards helped to restore parity when they lay siege to the Italy defence five metres out and, from a scrum, Keenan sprinted up from fullback to catch a short pass and blast his way over for a try.
Injuries piled up for Italy in the first half, with lock Dino Lamb and loose forwards Seb Negri and Lorenzo Cannone forced off inside 30 minutes. However, they were next to score as Allan booted a brilliant penalty from long-range marginally over the cross-bar after Garry Ringrose was caught offside.
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Ireland were still guilty of making uncharacteristic errors but they grabbed the half-time lead by capitalising on an unforced Italy mistake. Replacement flanker Michele Lamaro was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on when he threw out his hand to block Jamison Gibson-Park from a pass, and Ireland made him pay with a second try from the penalty.
A driving maul shoved the Azzurri back over their own line and Sheehan dotted it down. Jack Crowley missed the conversion but the visitors led 12-10 at the break.
Two tries was the minimum target for the second half and they scored the first of those within eight minutes of the restart. After a couple of near-misses near the Italy line, Ireland eventually got the ball down as the driving maul worked a treat again. Jack Conan won a five-metre lineout and Ireland drove over the line, with Sheehan scoring his second.
It got worse for Italy soon after as replacement flanker Ross Vintcent was sin-binned for a high tackle from the restart, reducing the hosts to 13 men for seven seconds before Lamaro was reintroduced. Vintcent’s yellow was later upgraded to a red after a bunker review and he was off for 20 minutes.
Capuozzo 🔗 Varney @Federugby answer back with a try 🔥#GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/vexT2AQykq
— Guinness Men’s Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 15, 2025
The biggest cheer for the day was reserved for the introduction of replacement flanker Peter O’Mahony in his last of 114 caps, while scrumhalf Conor Murray joined him for Test appearance 126 in the second half as Ireland piled on the pressure.
After a sticky start, the momentum was with them and the all-important fourth try followed soon after as Hansen batted a Jamison Gibson-Park cross-field kick down to a supporting Sheehan to score.
Crowley’s kicking problems continued, as he missed a third conversion from four attempts, to leave Ireland’s lead at just 12 into the final quarter. And that was quickly cut to just five as Varney scored a second Italy try following a neat Ange Capuozzo chip in behind Ireland’s defence.
Italy threatened to win it when Leonardo Marin made a line-break and carried into the Ireland 22. But Garbisi lost the ball, and Ireland saw it out for a narrow win.
© Agence France-Presse/SixNationsRugby.com
Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images
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