A Superb Irish pack with Leo Cullen, Robert Casey and Mick O'Driscoll dominating the play, allowed the home team to score nine tries at Ravenhill. It was 36-7 at the interval and though using all the replacements in the second half, Ireland finished well on top.
Ireland went ahead after only six minutes when Paul Neville broke clear to score. With Geordan Murphy showing his paces, the tries continued to flow, six of them in the first half, and three more came in the second period. Mark McHugh landed five conversions.
Scorers: Ireland: L Cullen 2 tries, P Neville, P Smyth, K Hartigan, R Woods, T Keating, C Dowling, D Quinlan try each, G Murphy conversion, M McHugh 5 conversions; Italy: R Mandelli, E Palladino try each, D Zanato 2 conversions.
IRELAND U-21: G Murphy; C Dowling, K Hartigan, D Quinlan, T Keating; M McHugh, P Stringer; L Cullen, R Woods, P Neville, R Casey, M O'Driscoll, S Best, P Smyth, M Horan. Replacements: D Blaney, N Brady, K Campbell, J Davis, A Kearney, D O'Callaghan, D McCombe.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)