Rookie Lowry bags brace as Ireland beat Italy in bizarre circumstances
Michael Lowry shone on debut as Ireland returned to winning ways in the Guinness Six Nations by blitzing 13-man Italy with a 57-6 bonus-point success in Dublin.
Electric Ulster full-back Lowry and James Lowe claimed two tries apiece, with Joey Carbery, Jamison Gibson-Park, stand-in captain Peter O’Mahony, Ryan Baird and Kieran Treadwell also crossing.
A one-sided affair was ruined by the Azzurri being forced to play two men light for three quarters of the afternoon after Hame Faiva was sent off for a high tackle on Dan Sheehan, having replaced fellow hooker Gianmarco Lucchesi due to injury.
Those premature departures led to uncontested scrums and, under World Rugby rules, necessitated the removal of a second player, with number eight Toa Halafihi the man sacrificed.
Penalties from Edoardo Padovani and Paolo Garbisi were scant consolation for the depleted Italians as they slipped to a 100th Six Nations defeat and 35th in succession.
Ireland fly-half Carbery – making a second-successive start in the number 10 jersey – kicked two conversions, with replacement Johnny Sexton adding a further eight points as Andy Farrell’s men bounced back from their 30-24 defeat in France a fortnight ago.
Les Bleus remain in pole position for championship glory as the only team still with Grand Slam aspirations remaining.
But this routine nine-try victory – secured in unusual circumstances – keeps up the pressure on Fabien Galthie’s table-toppers ahead head of Ireland’s Twickenham showdown with fellow title hopefuls England in just under two weeks.
An Irish team showing six personnel changes from the pulsating loss in Paris raced ahead inside four minutes.
Hooker Sheehan, on his first Test start, was heavily involved, teeing up Carbery to crawl over the line for only his second international try on the occasion of his 30th cap.
Following the raucous atmosphere of Stade de France, a sold-out Aviva Stadium was far more subdued.
Padovani’s long-range penalty put Italy on the scoreboard but the match swiftly deviated from the norm when New Zealand-born Faiva ploughed into the head of Sheehan.
That flashpoint came just 10 minutes after the early exit of the stricken Lucchesi.
Ireland quickly took advantage of the numerical advantage, with Gibson-Park diving over.
Fleet-footed Lowry, who excited the crowd all day, was then mobbed by the entire Irish team after crossing on a dream debut, before skipper O’Mahony marked his first Six Nations start since being sent off against Wales last year by diving over in the left corner to secure the bonus point.
Garbisi’s boot doubled Italy’s tally just before the half-time whistle but Kieran Crowley’s men faced a thankless task.
Ireland’s Lowe, back in action after injury saw him miss the opening two rounds, reinforced the difficulty of the Azzurri mission by dotting down unopposed seven minutes into the second period.
Star man Lowry again brought spectators to their feet with his second, before lock Baird celebrated his maiden Six Nations start by charging down Alessandro Fusco’s attempted clearance to gleefully dive over.
Things went from bad to worse for the beleaguered Italians late on.
They finished the encounter with just 12 men as Braam Steyn was sin-binned five minutes from time for deliberating knocking the ball into touch, before Lowry unselfishly passed up the chance of a hat-trick by providing the assist for Lowe’s second.
England and Scotland will provide far sterner tests for Farrell’s men in the coming weeks but a professional job here was completed by replacement Treadwell crashing over in the final moments on his first Test appearance for more than four years.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments