Ireland has overcome Italy by a scrappy 22-17 at the Stadio Olimpico and finished the last day of the Six Nations where it started, in third place.

Dan Sheehan scored a hat-trick as Ireland overcame a sloppy start to keep alive their hopes of retaining the Guinness Six Nations title with a unconvincing 22-17 bonus-point success over Italy. Seven days on from having their Grand Slam dream crushed by a 42-27 Dublin drubbing at the hands of France,