Ireland secured their first victory of this years Six Nations in style.
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David Odiete scored his first worldwide try to provide some relief for the visitors but it was brief as Ian Madigan jinked his way over the line and the game threatened to more closely resemble a one-sided sevens’ exhibition.
Ireland may have been under pressure to deliver after back-to-back defeats, but they did not let it show as they ran in four tries in a superb first-half performance.
Heaslip got his second try on 49 minutes after the forwards rumbled close to the line following a lineout maul, the No8 picked up at the base of a ruck and dived out with Sexton adding the extras.
It was a blow to their hopes of being competitive, and gave Ireland the opportunity to release some of the frustration that had built up in their previous three games.
This isn’t a question of whether Ireland will win and put an end to the longest winless streak of the Joe Schmidt era – the only debate is how wide the margin will be at the finish.
Italy opened their account on 22 minutes after Ireland were guilty of ripping the ball on the ground and out half Edoardo Padovani slotted over the resulting penalty.
Ireland prop Cian Healy has said that his side are “very confident” that they can break their Six Nations duck when they host Italy in Dublin on Saturday.
“We talked a lot before the gameabout things we hadn’tdone well enough”, Ireland captain Rory Best said.
The 28-year-old set his sights on protecting Ireland’s unbeaten home streak under Schmidt in the Six Nations, starting by seeing off the Azzurri this weekend.
Centre Jared Payne got the first five-pointer after half-time, 2 minutes from the restart, as the home team went for the jugular.
Continued Irish pressure saw replacement Madigan touch down with Sarto then scoring Italy’s second try of the match before McFadden completed the rout with Ireland’s ninth try two minutes from time.
Ireland: Zebo, Trimble, Payne, Henshaw, Earls, Sexton, Murray; McGrath, Best, Ross; Ryan, Toner; Stander, Van der Flier, Heaslip.
Sarto patted the ball back beyond his team-mate and Jared Payne pounced before Ireland attacked down the blindside to score through Andrew Trimble.
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Payne battled to burrow home but was held up, only for Ireland to claim try number eight through Madigan.
