Ireland 60 Italy 13

Ireland strolled to a record 60-13 victory against Italy at Lansdowne Road here on Saturday, only their second win in the past five meetings with their opponents, to stay joint-second in the Six Nations table with France, behind all-conquering England.

Warren Gatland's men carried on from where they left off after the previous record 44-22 trouncing of Scotland, putting six tries past the bewildered Italians to stay in the hunt for the inaugural championship after France beat Scotland 28-16 and England defeated Wales 46-12.

Ireland captain Keith Wood led the way with the first try, followed by winger Shane Horgan (2), flanker Keiron Dawson, centre Brian O'Driscoll, and full-back Girvan Dempsey.

Fly-half Ronan O'Gara also added an Irish-record 30 points with the boot as Ireland put on an exhibition for referee Derek Bevan's final international.

O'Gara beat Paul Burke's previous record of 24 points set against Italy at Lansdowne Road in 1997.

Ireland never looked likely to slip to defeat against a side that had become a bit of a bogey team for them and they eclipsed their biggest win of 31-15 in 1988 by some margin.

Italy's points came from a try by number eight Andrea de Rossi, and eight points from kicker Diego Dominguez.

After starting the tournament with a surprise defeat of Five Nations champions Scotland, Italy's challenge faltered as they slipped to defeat against Wales, with whom they are locked on two points in the table, ahead of bottom-placed Scotland.

The Teams:

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Keith Wood (c), 3 John Hayes, 4 Mick Galwey, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Simon Easterby, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Mike Mullins, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 Shane Horgan, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Rob Henderson, Dion O'Cuinneagain, Justin Fitzpatrick
Unused:  Guy Easterby, David Humphreys, Paddy Johns, Frankie Sheahan

Italy:  1 Massimo Cuttitta, 2 Alessandro Moscardi, 3 Tino Paoletti, 4 Carlo Checchinato, 5 Andrea Gritti, 6 Wim Visser, 7 Mauro Bergamasco, 8 Andrea De Rossi, 9 Alessandro Troncon (c), 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Luca Martin, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Juan Francescio, 15 Matt Pini
Reserves:  Marco Rivaro, Giuseppe Lanzi, Salvatore Perugini, Giacomo Preo, Laurent Travini
Unused:  Giampiero Mazzi, Carlo Orlandi

Attendance:  40000
Referee:  Bevan w.d.

Points Scorers:

Ireland
Tries:  Dawson K. 1, Dempsey G. 1, Horgan S. 2, O'Driscoll B. 1, Wood K.G.M. 1
Conv:  O'Gara R. 6
Pen K.:  O'Gara R. 6

Italy
Tries:  De Rossi A. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 1
Pen K.:  Dominguez D. 2