Rugby: Ireland beats Italy for its first warm-up match at the World Cup

London (AFP)

Ireland beat Italy on Saturday in Dublin (29-10) for their first World Cup match in Japan.

The Irish scored five tries by Joey Carbery, Dave Kearney, Andrew Conway, Jordi Murphy and Kieran Marmion for an easy win.

Maxime Mbanda and Carlo Canna crossed the line for Italy in the first half, taking advantage of the inaccuracies of an experimental Trefoil XV.

The only black spot for the XV Clover, the injury to an ankle late in the game of Carbery, Johnny Sexton's lining at the opening.

An injury to Carbery would leave Ireland without an experienced N.2 opener behind the Leinster star.

Jack Carty (Connacht) and Ross Byrne (Leinster) would be the backup solutions, while Ireland must launch its World-2019 on 22 September against Scotland.

© 2019 AFP