IRELAND CRUISE TO Warmagainst ITALY – BUT AT A PRICE
Joey Carbery suffered a knee injury scare yesterday as Ireland eased past Italy in their firstworld Cup warm-up match in Dublin.
Fly-half Carbery will face an anxious wait to discover whether the new knee concern will dent hisworld Cup hopes.
Premier playmaker Johnny Sexton is expected to be fit shortly following a thumb strain, but Ireland can ill afford to lose either of their main backline pivots.
Ireland will open theirworld Cup by taking on Scotland on September 22, so any significant knee issue now would threaten Carbery’s participation in Japan.
Connacht’s Jack Carty and Leinster’s Ross Byrne would be the men to understudy British and Irish Lions fly-half Sexton in Japan, should Carbery miss out through injury.
Carbery, Dave Kearney, Andrew Conway, Jordi Murphy and Kieran Marmion all crossed as an experimental Ireland line-up secured a routine victory.
Maxime Mbanda and Carlo Canna bagged first-half tries as Italy exploited Ireland’s preseason ring-rustiness.
in Azzurri territory. Dave Kearney made amends for his early howler with a neat finish in the corner, that owed everything to Garry Ringrose’s pass out of the tackle. It enabled Larmour to fire out wide, and Kearney did the rest.
Andrew Conway walked in a third to leave Ireland leading 19-10 at the interval.
No. 8 Jordi Murphy capped a driven lineout for Ireland’s fourth try, in a solid second-half opening.
Both sides meandered through an utterly-forgettable third quarter, save for that worrying injury to Carbery.
Replacement scrum-half Marmion charged down Test debutant and Italy counterpart Callum Braley to claim the hosts’ fifth score.
■ Australia crushed 14-man New Zealand 47-26 in the Rugby Championship in Perth.
That result means Six Nations champs Wales can end New Zealand’s 10-year reign at world No. 1 if they avoid defeat to England today.
The All Blacks had lock Scott Barrett sent off just before halftime for a shoulder-led charge on the Wallabies’ Michael Hooper.
Meanwhile, South Africa waltzed to their first major title in a decade, thanks to a 46-13 victory over Argentina in Salta.