Hooker Dan Sheehan scored a hat-trick of tries as champions Ireland laboured to a 22-17 bonus-point victory over hosts Italy on Saturday to move top of the Six Nations table and retain a chance of winning the title.
Ireland have 19 points from five matches having completed their campaign with four victories, and must now hope Wales upset England in Cardiff and Scotland beat France in Paris later on Saturday to claim a third Six Nations crown in a row.
Fullback Hugo Keenan also crossed for a try as Ireland failed to finish numerous other entries into the Italy 22 in a scrappy display that was a last in international rugby for retiring loose-forward Peter O'Mahony and scrumhalf Conor Murray.
Italy played for half an hour with 14 players after yellow cards for Michele Lamaro and Giacomo Nicotera, and a 20-minute red for Ross Vintcent, but managed tries through winger Monty Ioane and scrumhalf Stephen Varney in a spirited end to their campaign.
Italy vs Ireland latest news
- Sheehan hat-trick helps Ireland keep Six Nations title dreams alive
Good bye!
16:32 , Jonathan GorrieThanks for joining Standard Sport’s LIVE coverage of Ireland’s tight win over Italy.
Find our match report below!
Sheehan hat-trick helps Ireland keep Six Nations title dreams alive
16:14 , Jonathan GorrieIreland kept their hopes for a third consecutive Six Nations title alive with an X-X win over Italy.
FT: Italy 17-22 Ireland
16:13FT: There was still time for Nicotera to be sent off for a hit on O’Mahony.
However, the Irish claim a scrappy bonus-point win to keep their Six Nations title dream alive.
Italy 17-22 Ireland
16:08 , Jonathan Gorrie78 mins: Italy so close to making it even more interesting but Lowe grabs the ball out of the air after Marin worked his way into the 22.
TMO
16:0475 mins: James Lowe denied after his foot went into touch, before he played in Hugo Kennan.
TRY! Italy 17-22 Ireland
15:52 , Jonathan Gorrie63 mins: TRY!
Stunning stuff from Ange Capuozzo, who beats Ringrose for pace after kicking over him.
Hansen misreads the bounce of the ball and Varney is able to score.
Converted by Allan.
TRY! Italy 10-22 Ireland | Dan Sheehan '58
15:46 , Jonathan Gorrie58 mins: TRY!
Pure class from Gibson-Park to find Hansen out on the wing. He claws the ball out of the air and it finds Sheehan, who goes over for his hat-trick.
TMO
15:43 , Jonathan Gorrie54 mins: The try has been ruled out as Doris is judged to have knocked on.
Irish fans are not happy at all.
TRY! Italy 10-24 Ireland | Hugo Keenan '52
15:41 , Jonathan Gorrie52 mins: TRY!
More brilliant work from Crowley to tee Keenan up for his second of the game. Crowley follows up the conversion.
TMO
15:35 , Jonathan Gorrie48 mins: Oh, we’re back to the TMO.
Ross Vincent yellow-carded for a head-on-head challenge with Keenan.
Could well be more...
TRY! Italy 10-17 Ireland
15:33 , Jonathan Gorrie47 mins: TRY!
Conan wins his lineout and the maul its at its best, Sheehan going over for his second of the game.
Back underway!
15:20 , Jonathan GorrieThe second-half begins!
HT: Italy 10-12 Ireland
15:07HT: The Irish lead a game they’ve underwhelmed in, punishing Italy at the end there.
TRY! Italy 10-12 Italy | Dan Sheehan '40
15:06 , Jonathan Gorrie40 mins: Clinical as Dan Sheehan punishes Italy after Ireland win the line out and the maul rolls towards the line.
Crowley, however, misses the conversion.
Italy 10-7 Ireland
15:04 , Jonathan Gorrie39mins: Lamarao sent to the sin bin for a silly clash with Gibson-Park as he lifted the ball.
He’s not happy...
PENALTY! Italy 10-7 Ireland
14:57 , Jonathan Gorrie33 mins: Ringrose gives away an avoidable penalty and Allan curls inside the post from a difficult angle.
TRY! Italy 7-7 Ireland | Hugo Keenan '23
14:47 , Jonathan Gorrie23 mins: TRY!
Keenan sprints over after great work from Crowley to create the space.
Crowley converts to make it level.
TMO
14:43 , Jonathan Gorrie21 mins: Ireland denied after Bealham squeezed under a pile of Italian bodies to touch down.
TMO spot a double movement from the Irish prop...
Italy 7-0 Ireland
14:38 , Jonathan Gorrie19 mins: Dino Lamb taken off with what looks a nasty shoulder injury. Niccolo Cannone on to replace him.
Italy 7-0 Ireland
14:35 , Jonathan Gorrie17 mins: Sluggish stuff from Ireland, who look far too easy to cut through.
Italy 7-0 Ireland
14:31 , Jonathan GorrieTRY! Italy take the lead as Menocello breaks tackle to find Garbisi.
Ioane latches onto his offload and touches down.
Allan lands the conversion.
Italy 0-0 Ireland
14:23 , Jonathan Gorrie05 mins: An awful lot of line-outs here, Lowe bundled on the far side by Capuozzo.
Italy vs Ireland
14:17 , Jonathan GorrieKICK-OFF!
Italy vs Ireland
13:45 , Jonathan GorrieClosing in on kick-off!
Checked in! 👋#TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/B1TDig8QSb
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 15, 2025
How do bonus points work in the Six Nations?
13:14It’s Super Saturday in the Six Nations, where the title remains up for grabs in what could be a thrilling finale to the 2025 competition.
France are firmly in pole position to claim their first title since 2022 after brushing aside defending champions Ireland in Dublin in round four, but are missing star captain Antoine Dupont through injury as they prepare to host Scotland in the last of today’s three matches in Paris this evening.
Italy vs Ireland
12:41 , Jonathan GorrieA look inside today’s venue!
Arrived at Stadio Olimpico for R5! 🇮🇹#TeamOfUs pic.twitter.com/TSYy4ehFu8
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 15, 2025
Six Nations permutations: How England can win the title on Super Saturday
12:13 , Jonathan GorrieThe Six Nations title remains up for grabs heading into what is sure to be a thrilling final round of action on Super Saturday.
As usual the northern hemisphere’s premier rugby competition has not failed to disappoint in 2025, with drama and talking points aplenty over a seven-week championship which draws to an exciting conclusion this weekend.
Round five as always sees the end of the split of matches over the course of the weekend, with the three games instead taking place throughout Saturday.
Four teams can technically still win the Six Nations title on the last day, though fourth-place Scotland would need an absolutely remarkable sequence of events to claim a first-ever championship since the 2000 expansion.
Click here to read the Six Nations permutations!
Italy vs Ireland: Latest Six Nations odds today
12:08Italy to win: 10/1
Ireland to win: 1/16
Draw: 50/1
Odds via Betfair (subject to change).
Italy vs Ireland head to head (h2h) history and results
12:01 , Jonathan GorrieItaly have won four of the previous 37 meetings against Ireland, but three of those were in the 1990s before the Six Nations, where their only success over them was back in 2013 in Rome.
Ireland have won every other contest apart from that, a winning streak in this fixture of 15 matches across 11 years.
They won 36-0 at home to Italy last year, while they also won a 2023 Rugby World Cup warm-up match in Dublin having triumphed 34-20 earlier that year at the Olimpico in the Six Nations.
Italy wins: 4
Ireland wins: 33
Draws: 0
Italy vs Ireland: Six Nations prediction today
11:49 , Jonathan GorrieTheir total second-half collapse against France was a truly bitter pill to swallow for Ireland, who would have fancied their chances of going on to win and all-but secure a history-making title and Grand Slam at half-time, particularly after Dupont’s injury that has dominated so much of the post-match discourse.
But they were instead brushed aside in a manner that simply hasn’t happened to them in recent years, so it’ll be interesting to see how quickly they are able to regroup following some changes with only a slender chance of still clinching the title on the final day.
They need a huge win in Rome to stand any chance before England and France play and you’d expect them to bounce back swiftly here to get it against an Italy outfit that have shown their attacking qualities in the last couple of games but also how extremely vulnerable they remain in defence.
The Azzurri will be motivated by a strong desire to avoid going back to holding the wooden spoon and could keep it close and physical early doors and are likely to score another eye-catching try or two, but ultimately we fully expect them to once again be blown away as the contest wears on.
Ireland to win, by at least 20 points.
Italy vs Ireland lineups in full
11:48 , Jonathan GorrieItaly XV: Allan; Capuozzo, Brex (c), Menoncello, Ioane; P Garbisi, Page-Relo; Fischetti, Lucchesi, Ferrari; Lamb, Ruzza; Negri, Zuliani, L Cannone
Replacements: Nicotera, Spagnolo, Zilocchi, N Cannone, Lamaro, Vintcent, Varney, Marin
Ireland XV: Keenan; Hansen, Ringrose, Henshaw, Lowe; Crowley, Gibson-Park; Porter, Sheehan, Bealham; Ryan, Beirne; Conan, Van der Flier, Doris (c)
Replacements: G McCarthy, Boyle, Furlong, J McCarthy, O'Mahony, Murray, Prendergast, Aki
Ireland team news: James Lowe and Mack Hansen return
11:48 , Jonathan GorrieInterim Ireland coach Simon Easterby has made six changes of his own after that sobering second-half demolition by France, the most notable of which is Jack Crowley getting the nod at fly-half over Sam Prendergast.
James Lowe - lost in the warm-up last week - and Mack Hansen return on the wings in a major attacking boost as Jamie Osborne and Calvin Nash both drop out of the squad, while Bundee Aki is only on the bench as Garry Ringrose returns from suspension to partner Robbie Henshaw in the centres.
There are two changes in the pack, where James Ryan replaces Joe McCarthy in the second row and Jack Conan starts at blindside flanker in place of Peter O’Mahony, who along with Conor Murray is poised to earn his final Ireland cap off the bench this weekend. Fellow imminent retiree Cian Healy isn’t in the squad.
There’s a welcome return on the bench for star tighthead Tadhg Furlong after injury, with Jack Boyle backing up starting loosehead Porter instead of Healy. It’s actually an entirely new replacement front row with Gus McCarthy the hooker cover for Dan Sheehan instead of Rob Herring with still no Ronan Kelleher.
Italy team news: Michele Lamaro dropped to the bench
11:47 , Jonathan GorrieItaly head coach Gonzalo Quesada has made seven changes to the team that shipped seven tries at Twickenham, with influential captain Michele Lamaro dropped to the bench in a shock move.
His run of 24 consecutive Six Nations starts is now over as fellow Benetton flanker Manuel Zuliani comes into the back row on the openside instead alongside number 8 Lorenzo Cannone as Ross Vintcent also makes way. Centre Juan Ignacio Brex will skipper the side this weekend.
Ange Capuozzo has shifted out back to the wing after a knee injury suffered on his Six Nations debut by Matt Gallagher, with Tommaso Allan returning at full-back. There’s also a swap at scrum-half as Stephen Varney is replaced by Martin Page-Relo.
Gianmarco Lucchesi replaces Giacomo Nicotera at hooker and Simone Ferrari is in for Marco Riccioni at tighthead prop, while in the second row Harlequins’ Dino Lamb is back fit and preferred to Niccolo Cannone.
How to watch Italy vs Ireland
11:47 , Jonathan GorrieTV channel: Italy vs Ireland is being televised live and free-to-air in the UK on ITV1, with coverage from 1:30pm GMT.
Live stream: Coverage is also available online via ITVX, which is free with a registration.
Live blog: You can also follow the match live with Standard Sport’s blog.
Welcome
11:08 , Jonathan GorrieGood morning and welcome to Standard Sport’s LIVE coverage of Ireland’s Six Nations finale against Italy.
Kick-off from the Stadio Olimpico in Rome is at 2.15pm GMT.
