{"id":49937,"date":"2026-02-14T16:54:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T16:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=49937"},"modified":"2026-02-14T16:54:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T16:54:47","slug":"ireland-hold-their-nerve-to-beat-italy-six-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/02\/14\/ireland-hold-their-nerve-to-beat-italy-six-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland hold their nerve to beat gallant Italy in Six Nations thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>Andy Farrell&#8217;s side trailed 10-5 at half-time after Giacomo Nicotera&#8217;s try and five points from Paolo Garbisi stunned a sold-out Aviva Stadium crowd following Jamie Osborne&#8217;s opening score.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Ireland rebounded from an opening hammering by France to edge a gallant Italy 20-13 in their Six Nations match at Lansdowne Road on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Irish were often second-best in the match, trailing 10-5 at half-time, but two second-half tries by Jack Conan and Robert Baloucoune got them over the line.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland face a tough away trip against England next Saturday while the Italians play France in Lille.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland, thankfully for the home fans, started in much more positive fashion than in Paris, on an historic day as Hollie Davidson became the first woman to referee a men\u2019s Six Nations match.<\/p>\n<p>Louis Lynagh was one of the standout performers for Italy against the Scots last week when they won 18-15, but he blotted his copybook when Davidson sin-binned him for a deliberate knock-on.<\/p>\n<p>They largely held the Irish at bay despite being a man down but had no response when a lovely offload by Stuart McCloskey to Jamie Osborne allowed the fullback to touch down.<\/p>\n<p>Sam Prendergast fluffed his conversion to give the Irish a 5-0 lead in the 18th minute.<\/p>\n<p>Italy fly-half Paolo Garbisi reduced the deficit two minutes later with a penalty for 5-3.<\/p>\n<p>A poor kick by Prendergast came close to costing Ireland dearly as Lorenzo Pani, who had been brought into the side with Juan Ignacio Brex unavailable, caught it and chipped ahead.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old gathered it cleanly and passed to Michele Lamaro, who with no Irish defender in front of him and a clear route to the tryline, knocked on.<\/p>\n<p>They got a huge boost, though, when with just under 10 minutes remaining Davidson wielded a yellow card at Craig Casey.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-farrell-rings-changes\">Farrell rings changes <\/h2>\n<p>The visitors took immediate advantage, Giacomo Nicotera touching down \u2014 Garbisi converted for 10-5.<\/p>\n<p>Tempers were becoming frayed and boiled over when the Italians celebrated the Irish giving away a scrum penalty.<\/p>\n<p>The Irish pack took offence at that and a scuffle broke out \u2014 once it calmed down Davidson told both captains to keep their players under control.<\/p>\n<p>The Italians could have extended the lead on half-time after being awarded a penalty but McCloskey did brilliantly to turn the ball over.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the Italians went in in a much better frame of mind than the rattled Irish and leading in a Six Nations match in Dublin for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Irish provided the response head coach Andy Farrell and the home fans wanted immediately after the restart \u2014 Conan going over.<\/p>\n<p>Prendergast\u2019s miserable day continued as he missed the conversion.<\/p>\n<p>The Irish got away with it in the 50th minute after Lynagh\u2019s try was ruled out for a forward pass by Tommaso Menoncello, a sad end to a brilliant solo break by the latter.<\/p>\n<p>Farrell rang the changes then bringing on Jamison Gibson-Park, Tadhg Beirne and Ronan Kelleher.<\/p>\n<p>Prendergast\u2019s nightmare ended in the 55th minute as Farrell sent on Jack Crowley.<\/p>\n<p>The change in the Irish was startling.<\/p>\n<p>They put together their best passing move of the match, McCloskey once again providing the decisive pass, Baloucoune showing some outstanding footwork to touch down.<\/p>\n<p>Crowley converted and then gave the Irish some breathing space with a crisply taken penalty for 20-10.<\/p>\n<p>Garbisi, though, hit back with a penalty of his own with 14 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n<p>The Italians pressed hard but James Lowe extinguished their hopes when he intercepted a pass and guaranteed the Irish a perhaps fortunate but crucial win.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p>Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Ireland #hold #nerve #beat #gallant #Italy #Nations #thriller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andy Farrell&#8217;s side trailed 10-5 at half-time after Giacomo Nicotera&#8217;s try and five points from Paolo Garbisi stunned a sold-out&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49939,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49937\/revisions\/49939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}