Match Centre: Six Nations - Ireland 36-0 Italy

Ireland 36-0 Italy, Aviva Stadium

Ireland came up with a six-try performance as they blanked out Italy 36-0 in the second round of the Six Nations tournament at Aviva Stadium on Sunday.

Jack Crowley, Dan Sheehan and Jack Conan scored first half tries for Ireland that took them to a 19-0 lead before the break. Sheehan completed his second in the second half with James Lowe and Calvin Nash also following the suit to complete a comfortable bonus point victory.

Ireland now have two wins from as many games as they consolidated their position at the top while Italy are languishing at the bottom after losing both their matches.

Andy Farrell's men kick-started their proceedings in the 7th minute as Hugo Keenan and Robbie Henshaw combined to send Crowley over the line. It was also Crowley's first international try but he missed out on the conversion.

Italy managed to keep Ireland quite but eventually the hosts extended the lead as Crowley was once again involved as he freed Hugo Keenan, who in turn sent Sheehan over in the 23rd minute. Crowley added the extras as the hosts raced to a 12-0 lead.

The third try for Ireland came up at the stroke of half time as Jack Conan powered his way over the line and Crowley kicked the extras as they completed the opening half with a 19-0 lead.

The bonus point for Ireland came in the 50th minute as Sheenan completed his second try at the back of a powerful maul but Crowley's conversion drifted wide. Italy's problems compounded as Tommaso Menoncello was sin-binned for a tip tackle on James Lowe, who shortly showed great skill to went past three defenders to dot down. Crowley was once again off target with the conversion as the scorelne became 29-0.

Any chance of a Italy comeback was put off and instead Ireland capped off a fantastic game with their sixth try coming at the stroke of half time Stuart McCloskey and Jamison Gibson-Park sent Nash over the line to complete a 36-0 victory.

Ireland will be hosting Wales in the third round on 24th February while Italy will lock horns with France in the next round on 25th February.

Team line up:

Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Calvin Nash, Robbie Henshaw, Stuart McCloskey, James Lowe; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Finlay Bealham, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Caelan Doris, Jack Conan.

Reserves: Ronan Kelleher, Jeremy Loughman, Tom O’Toole, Iain Henderson, Josh van der Flier, Jamison Gibson-Park, Harry Byrne, Jordan Larmour.

Italy: Ange Capuozzo; Lorenzo Pani, Juan Ignacio Brex, Tommaso Menoncello, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danilo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Pietro Ceccarelli, Niccolo Cannone, Federico Ruzza, Alessandro Izekor, Manuel Zuliani, Michele Lamaro.

Reserves: Giacomo Nicotera, Mirco Spagnolo, Giosue Zilocchi, Andrea Zambonin, Ross Vintcent, Martin Page-Relo, Tommaso Allan, Federico Mori.