Ireland bounce back as CJ makes history

CJ STANDER’S stellar season continued at the Stadio Olimpico as the flanker became the first forward to score a Six Nations hat-trick.

Stander spearheaded a performance from a fired-up Ireland side who steamrolled Italy with a nine-try demolition in Rome.

Having lost their opening game against Scotland, Joe Schmidt’s side bounced back with a dominant display and Ireland’s head coach was effusive in his praise for Stander.

‘I thought CJ was great today,’ said Schmidt. ‘Even the tryscoring aside, I think defensively he got off the line and got through a real volume of work and a lot of what he did didn’t result in tries for him but they resulted in positive aspects of the game for us.

‘He’s a really positive contributor and the one thing I would say is that we have a back row with big engines.

‘It certainly helps us to negotiate our way around the pitch.’

Following their 27-22 defeat at Murrayfield, the visitors got their championship campaign back on track yesterday with Craig Gilroy also crossing for a treble during the bonus-point romp. Keith Earls bagged a brace, while Garry Ringrose also went over.

‘The most satisfying thing is that we got a performance,’ added Schmidt. ‘We didn’t just throw away what we did in Scotland. Some of what we did in Scotland — when you come from 21-5 down to 22-21 in front — you have done some things that are positive.

‘We tried to maintain a lot of that and build on the consistency of it, and probably just built on the start and continue the pressure. We didn’t release the pressure valve.’

The 63-10 pummelling proved to be a reality check for Italy head coach Conor O’Shea and his squad. The former Harlequins boss is overseeing his first Six Nations in charge of the Azzurri and admitted his side were taught a harsh lesson.

‘In the first 20 minutes we took a battering. Today was an incredibly hard day,’ said O’Shea.

‘Ireland are better than us at this stage and the physical battering we took, took its toll.’