Baloucoune spares Ireland’s Six Nations blushes as they recover to see off Italy

After what felt like 40 days and 40 nights of darkness and rain, the sun came out in Dublin. Cold, yes, and a grey day by kick-off but bright enough to throw light on an Ireland side scrambling for their footing, and a bullish Italy one looking to break new ground.

Never having won a Six Nations game in Dublin might be the sort of statistic to weigh you down. The Azzurri carried it like a backpack with only a couple of bits and bobs. For the first 40 minutes of physical, narky and very watchable Test rugby, they looked like they have never looked before at this venue in this competition: a well-rounded side with self-assurance to go with passion. By the end of 80 minutes the picture had changed only to reflect a shortage of finesse to finish, as they pounded away in the Ireland 22 before James Lowe lifted the siege.

Still, you wondered if the last play of that first half might undo Italy in the final chase. They were making the most of their advantage thanks to Craig Casey being sent to the sin-bin for a high shot on Lorenzo Canone – not something the scrum-half is either accused or convicted of very often – and with two scrum penalties in a row Paolo Garbisi tucked the ball neatly out of touch close to the Ireland line. In the huffing and puffing that followed they failed to turn their 10-5 lead, thanks to Giacomo Nicotera’s try, into something better.

As it was, Andy Farrell had enough to contend with in that interval. Having questioned his side’s degree of intent in Paris nine days ago his team started with plenty of grunt, and matched it with fixing the problem that had seized their engine against France: unsuccessful contestables. Right off the bat Farrell’s changed wings – Lowe and the man of the match, Robert Baloucoune – retrieved ball in the air and the relief around the stadium was audible.

Baloucoune is quick and adventurous but has struggled through his career to put some distance between himself and injury. He reminded us of how good he can be when fit and well fed with possession. Farrell’s issue was to get him better rations. The wing emphasised the point with his gamechanging try at the end of the third quarter.

The coach has struggled too to get more game time into Jamie Osborne for the same reason as Baloucoune. He could have selected him in the original Lions squad last summer, but didn’t – Osborne reinforced again here his quality, not least with the try that gave Ireland the lead on 17 minutes. That was before their scrum started to break, before the crowd were wondering if Ireland’s tournament was about to open with back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2021.

Giacomo Nicotera’s try gave Italy a half-time lead. Photograph: Seb Daly/Sportsfile/Getty Images

The second half started by following Ireland’s script to the letter, with Jack Conan’s try from close in levelling the game at 10-10. In days gone by that would have been the cue for an Italian collapse, but Ireland spent the rest of the third quarter under the pump, suffering against forwards who carried relentlessly.

The home team had to exit three times under acute pressure before they dodged a bullet when Louis Lynagh’s try was ruled out on play-back for a forward pass. When the same player was being sent to the sin-bin in the first half you might have thought Italy would slip into reverse but it never happened.

It took the appearance of Jack Crowley, much to the delight of the crowd, to make a discernible momentum shift in that second half. And that try from Baloucoune to give Ireland a 10-point lead, which Garbisi clawed back to losing bonus point territory with a penalty on 66 minutes.

Ireland had a heap of defending to do in the endgame, so Farrell will be pleased there was no shortage of intent when it came to that chore. It was some distance removed from a convincing win, but a good deal better from a plunge into crisis.