Ireland 32 Italy 17

Munster winger John Kelly stole the headlines as he scored two tries on his debut as Ireland beat Italy by 32-17 in front of a packed Lansdowne Road in Dublin, although with England's big win in Twickenham, the margin of victory was almost certainly not enough to keep their 2002 Six Nations title hopes alive.

The home team totally shut the Azzurri out in the first 40 minutes, leading 19-0 at half-time, with Italy only getting their first scoring opportunity after seven minutes in extra time just before the break but the Irish will now need a win of gargantuan proportions over title favourites France in Paris to have any chance of securing the title.

The visitors showed a willingness to run with the ball from the outset of the game, but unfortunately Brad Johnstone's men made a lot of handling errors, which the Irish gladly pounced on.

In fact, the game was marred by bad handling errors by both teams, and some poor discipline by the visitors.

While most of the 30 pairs of hands on the pitch made a mess of things, the Irish backs made amends with some pin-point tactical kicking.  They forced Italy back many yards on a few occasions, from where new Irish skipper David Humphreys punished the visitors for their mistakes.

The Irish flyhalf, who spent some time in the bloodbin with a deep gash to the head, slotted three easy penalties in the opening quarter to put the home team in the lead by 9-0.

It was a very scrappy game with lots of niggles off the ball, most of them coming from the Italians.  Both the visiting props were sent to the bin in the first half – tighthead Salvatore Perugini for a head-butt on Peter Stringer in 24th minute and loosehead Giampiero De Carli in the 40th minute.

It was just before De Carli got his marching orders that Irish debutant wing John Kelly scored his first try.  He got the ball wide on the left-hand side of the field and left Denis Dallan in his wake with a great hand-off.

The conversion by blood sub Ronan O'Gara and a further penalty by the replacement flyhalf saw the teams turn with Ireland leading 19-0.

Italy finally got on the score board shortly after the break when their South African-born fullback Gert Peens slotted a massive drop-goal.

But their joy was not to last long as Kelly got his second try four minutes later when he sliced open the Italian defence in the 22.

Mauro Bergamasco scored Italy's first try in the 53rd minute and with Diego Dominguez's conversion, the visitors trailed by 24-10 with enough time left on the clock.

Dennis Hickie scored Ireland's third, and final try from a set move from an attacking line-out.  It was a classic midfield run-around move that opened the gap for the speedster to crash over, and put the result beyond any doubt.

The Italians strung together a number of good phases in the second half, but sadly for them, the Irish defence held out until it was too late.

The Italians never really looked like breaking the home team's line, but De Carli scored a late consolation try for the visitors, which Diego Dominguez converted, on the stroke of full-time.

Alessandro Troncon and Bergamasco were the best players for the Azzurri on the day.

The Irish midfield of Shane Horgan and Brian O'Driscoll, who was well marked by the Italians, played their hearts out, as did Malcolm O'Kelly.  But it was John Kelly's day – a brace of tries on debut doesn't come often.

Man of the Match:  No contest here, John Kelly, with his calm head, solid defence and two tries gets our vote.

Moment of the match:  Dennis Hickie's try from first phase from five metres out of the Italian try-line was a real gem.  Classic backline run-around move by the home team and the game was theirs.

Villain of the match:  Lot of niggles.  Peter Clohessy got a stern talking to from the referee and Giampiero De Carli got yellowed on the stroke of half-time, but Salvatore Perugini gets the award for his head-butt, and subsequent sin binning, on Peter Stringer in 24th minute.

(Half-time:  Ireland 19 Italy 0)

Sin-bin:  (Salvatore Perugini 24-34, Giampiero De Carli 40-50)

Ireland:  1 Peter Clohessy, 2 Shane Byrne, 3 John Hayes, 4 Gary Longwell, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Simon Easterby, 7 David Wallace, 8 Anthony Foley, 9 Peter Stringer, 10 David Humphreys (c), 11 Denis Hickie, 12 Shane Horgan, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 14 John Kelly, 15 Girvan Dempsey
Reserves:  Tyrone Howe, Eric Miller, Paul Wallace, Paul O'Connell, Ronan O'Gara, UnusedGuy Easterby, Frankie Sheahan

Italy:  1 Giampiero De Carli, 2 Alessandro Moscardi (c), 3 Salvatore Perugini, 4 Marco Bortolami, 5 Mark Giacheri, 6 Mauro Bergamasco, 7 Aaron Persico, 8 Matthew Phillips, 9 Alessandro Troncon, 10 Diego Dominguez, 11 Denis Dallan, 12 Giovanni Raineri, 13 Cristian Stoica, 14 Nicola Mazzucato, 15 Gert Peens
Reserves:  Andrea De Rossi, Santiago Dellape, Federico Pucciariello, UnusedMatteo Mazzantini, Andrea Moretti, Cristian Zanoletti, Ramiro Pez

Referee:  Dickson r.

Points Scorers

Ireland
Tries:  Hickie D.A. 1, Kelly J. 2
Conv:  O'Gara R.J.R. 1
Pen K.:  Humphreys D.G. 4, O'Gara R.J.R. 1

Italy
Tries:  Bergamasco M. 1, De Carli G.P. 1
Conv:  Dominguez D. 2
Drop G.:  Peens G. 1