For this very late meeting of the 4th day of the Six Nations Tournament, which was postponed last March because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the contract was simple for the Irish: to win against Italy in scoring 4 tries to bring their number of points in the standings to 14, ahead of their two rivals at 13 units.
Mission accomplished by the hour of play, which paves the way for the coronation of the XV of Trèfle, even if it will be necessary for him to win in Paris next weekend.
Success with a bonus would certainly guarantee him the final victory.
A "simple" victory too, if England do not take the bonus in Italy at the same time - an unlikely scenario given the weakness of the Azzuris, still stuck at 0 points and with a points difference of -105 in 4 matches.
And if Ireland wins without a bonus and England takes the bonus, it will be the general difference in points that will decide between the two teams, the Greens having the advantage for the moment: +38 against +15.
A case quickly folded
Things did not drag on in Dublin, the teammates of Jonathan Sexton (18 points) finding the fault in the 7th minute in force by CJ Stander, while they moved to 14 after a yellow card addressed to Conor Murray (7- 3) for preventing the ball from being released five meters from its line.
Winger Hugo Keenan then flattened twice in the opposing in-goal to bring the score to 24-3 (37th), allowing his people to join the locker room with the satisfaction of the task accomplished in three quarters.
Returning from the locker room, the Italians were tougher, even reducing the mark on a test after interception of Edoardo Padovani (24-10, 55th).
But the green machine, which also wanted to improve its points difference, moved forward and in the next quarter of an hour, Will Connors (60th), Jonathan Sexton (64th) and Bundee Aki (68th) still crossed the line. to give a greater scale to the score (43-10).
In the very last seconds of regulation time, Dave Heffernan scored a 7th green try and Ross Byrne rushed to transform, hoping to have another opportunity to score behind and further improve the advantage of his team (50-10, 79th).
But it is on the contrary the Italians who saved the honor with a test by Paolo Garbisi (50-17, 80th) which could, who knows, weigh heavily in a week.
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