Italy 17 Ireland 22
Two and a half minutes from time, James Lowe came in off his wing and Manuel Zuliani offloaded one-handed to the talented 23-year-old Italian replacement Leonardo Marin. A star of the future was set to become one of the present with his first touch when he raced up the touchline and stepped inside Hugo Keenan. For a moment it really did look like Italy were going to have a conversion to win the match.
They’d been the brighter, sparkier side in many ways. Their body language had been more positive – and so too their instinctive attacking inventiveness, especially when Ange Capuozzo was in the vicinity of the ball.
Five minutes earlier Lowe had been wrongly adjudged to have placed a foot on the touchline by…