Ireland labour to nervy victory over Italy
Ireland survived a major scare from Italy to claim their first win in this year’s Six Nations and deny the Azzurri a first championship victory in Dublin. Hurting from last week’s thumping defeat by France in Paris, Ireland took the lead through Jamie Osborne’s unconverted try after Italy wing Louis Lynagh’s yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. But momentum shifted in Italy’s favour, and after Paolo Garbisi’s penalty and Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey’s yellow card, hooker Giacomo Nicotera crashed over to give the Italians a deserved half-time lead.
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