Australian wing Mack Hansen has scored a brace of tries for Eire as they held off a spirited problem from hosts Italy in Rome to assert a 34-20 bonus-point victory within the Six Nations and stayed on target for the grand slam.
Unbeaten Eire, who prime the Six Nations desk with 15 factors from three matches, regarded as if they might run riot after 4 tries within the first 35 minutes on Saturday, with lock James Ryan, fullback Hugo Keenan and middle Bundee Aki all scoring earlier than Hansen. went over.
Italy took the sport to their vaunted guests although and ran the ball from all positions – generally naively – as they scored tries via halfback Stephen Varney and wing Pierre Bruno, however they might not convert when well-placed within the second half.
After Hansen dived over huge on the best 5 minutes earlier than halftime, the Irish went into the break with a 24-17 lead.
However the recreation tightened up after the break with Italian flyhalf Paolo Garbisi excellent in controlling the tempo for the house facet, who continued to impress in defeat on this yr’s competitors.
However Canberra’s Hansen, who qualifies for Eire via a Cork-born mom, proved the decisive determine, slipping via the Italian line of defense 9 minutes from time to make sure his facet claimed a valuable, albeit unconvincing, victory.
