Ireland claim top position in the table with 56-19 bonus point win over Italy

Ireland 56-19 Italy, Aviva Stadium
Scorecard

Ireland ran an eight-try riot as they went on trounce Italy by 56-19 in their Six Nations face-off at Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

The win has taken Joe Schmidt's side to the top of the table with nine points while Italy languish at the bottom after second successive defeat.

Ireland had an early setback when Tadhg Furlong was replaced in the third minute by Andrew Porter. After sustained pressure, Robbie Henshaw opened the account for Ireland when he breached Italy's defence and scored the opening try in the 11th minute while Johnny Sexton slotted the conversion.

The lead doubled three minutes later when Conor Murray capitalised on a pass from Jack Conan to score the second try and the fly-half slotted the extras once again. Murray continued his good form as he set-up the third try for the home side in the 21st minute when he passed the ball to Bundee Aki.

Aki turned the provider 13 minutes later when he offloaded one to Keith Earls in the 34th minute as Ireland claimed the bonus point within the first half that ended with a 28-0 lead.

Italy's trouble compounded when Sergio Parisse's pass to Tomasso Allan was intercepted by Henshaw, who scored his second try after the restart while skipper Rory Best crashed past the line in the 53rd minute as Schmidt's men scored 42 unanswered points.

Italy finally managed to get their first points on the board with Allan (55'), Edoardo Gori (65') and Matteo Minozzi (74') scoring tries but Jacob Stockdale (59' and 69') with his double helped Ireland complete a 37 point victory.

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