In Dublin, tries by Doris (2), Kilcoyne, McCloskey and Healy pave the way for Farrell’s team, Pani and Menoncello score for the Azzurri, who, however, go out with Riccioni due to injury
Ireland defeated Italy 33-17 in Dublin in a pre-World Cup test: after the one against Scotland in Murrayfield a week ago, comes the second defeat for coach Kieran Crowley’s Azzurri. And once again against a decidedly experimental team, given that coach Andy Farrell, in view of the eagerly awaited match against England scheduled in two weeks’ time, is leaving almost all the starters to rest. If something good had been glimpsed in the defeat at Murrayfield, today the Azzurri leave a more worrying impression: in the next two tests before the World Cup (with Romania in San Bendetto del Tronto in two weeks and then on the 26th in Treviso with Japan) it is hoped to see the roles reversed, with the Azzurri honoring that of favourites.
Injury
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The match starts well for Italy who with the scrum win the free-kick that allows Tommy Allan to sign the 3-0. But the news that arrives in the 11th minute is bad, when Marco Riccioni stops: the Saracens prop seems to be complaining of a problem with his left knee, he is forced out and Simone Ferrari comes in instead. In the 13th minute Ireland quickly took a free-kick from 5 metres, the forwards opened a breach and the prop David Kilcoyne crushed. There is suffering to stem the Irish attacks and in the long run always find yourself defending inevitably leaves its mark. Thus the yellow card given to Danilo Fischetti in the 28th minute for not having respected the 10 meters before tackling scrum-half Craig Casey on a quickly taken free-kick, allowed the crack to open into which flanker Caelan slipped from the touchline 5 meters away Doris to sign the second try direct from the first push of the maul. In the 36th minute the Azzurri are too slow to free from a very dangerous area, first Tommaso Menoncello and then Stephen Varney find themselves without support, the Irish pressure is overwhelming, center Stuart McCloskey pounces on the oval and with a simple feint opens the enough room to stretch out to dunk. Jack Crowley, chosen to replace the suspended Jonathan Sexton, transforms all three. With time running out, Italy won a good free-kick with the scrum, they could throw a touchline inside the 22 opponents, but Giacomo Nicotera missed the ball.
Deserved
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The fact is that Italy doesn’t leave a completely bad impression, because when they have the ball and can play fast, they show a good attitude and good ideas. It happened sporadically in the first half, it can be seen at the beginning of the second half when the well-deserved goal arrives, with the Azzurri making the ball travel quickly and precisely off the coast, with Allan’s last pass for Lorenzo Pani (replaced for newcomer Paolo Odogwu), who picks, jumps Jacob Stockdale and goes to dunk (Allan transforms). In the 65th minute an exhausting Irish attack forced the Azzurri to defend the goal line, a couple of attempts were well rejected, but in the end it was substitute prop Cian Healy who found the gap in which to squeeze in. 4 minutes go by and Italy turns the situation around, forcing the Irish to withdraw right up to the posts, with Alessandro Fusco (replacing Varney) who opens for Nacho Brex, who serves Tommaso Menoncello with quick hands, who resists the tackle and with a veronica turns around in goal (transformed by Allan). In the 73rd minute, the Azzurri lose the ball in a touchout in midfield, the Irish unleash a very violent attack which finds Doris’ cue under the posts, who receives a short pass from Healy and goes over two Azzurri to sign the brace (the conversion was by Ciaran Frawley). Then Menoncello hurts his left shoulder, due to the further bad news of the evening. That ends here.
August 5th – 11.12pm
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