HIGH PRICE OF ITALIAN JOB
THE HARD YARDS: Ireland’s Robbie Henshaw is tackled by Italy’s Marcello Violi during the NatWest Six Nations match at the Aviva Stadium.
IRELAND completed the Italian job in spectacular fashion with a 56-19 demolition of the Azzurri at a packed Aviva yesterday but there was a price to pay with two serious injuries to key players.
There were just three minutes on the clock when prop Tadhg Furlong limped off after sustaining what appeared to be a significant hamstring injury that could threaten his further participation in the championship.
The second injury was more freakish and potentially more serious.
Centre Robbie Henshaw was touching down for his second try under a challenge from an Italian when he sustained a nasty injury to his shoulder and upper arm which left him immobile.
The bonus point came early following first-half tries from Henshaw, Conor Murray, Bundee Aki and Keith Earls.
And there was a debut for the highly rated Jordan Larmour who replaced the injured Henshaw.
There were further tries in the second half from captain Rory Best and two from Jacob Stockdale.
It was by no means a perfect performance with the Italians making the most of sloppy defending and loss of concentration with tries of their own but it’s two wins out of two for Ireland.