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Joey Carbery suffered a knee injury scare as Ireland eased past Italy 29-10 in their first World Cup warm-up match in Dublin.<\/p>\nJoey Carbery suffered a knee injury scare as Ireland eased past Italy 29-10 in their first World Cup warm-up match in Dublin.<\/p>\n
Fly-half Carbery will face an anxious wait to discover whether the new knee concern will dent his World Cup hopes.<\/p>\n
Premier playmaker Johnny Sexton is expected to be fit shortly following a thumb strain, but Ireland can ill afford to lose either of their main backline pivots.<\/p>\n
Ireland will open their World Cup by taking on Scotland on September 22, so any significant knee issue now would threaten Carbery\u2019s participation in Japan.<\/p>\n
Connacht\u2019s Jack Carty and Leinster\u2019s Ross Byrne would be the men to understudy British and Irish Lions fly-half Sexton in Japan, should Carbery miss out through injury.<\/p>\n
New Zealand-born Carbery offers Ireland added selection flexibility though, with the ability to cover full-back, and even center at a push.<\/p>\n
Carbery, Dave Kearney, Andrew Conway, Jordi Murphy and Kieran Marmion all crossed as an experimental Ireland line-up secured a routine Aviva Stadium victory.<\/p>\n
Maxime Mbanda and Carlo Canna bagged first-half tries as Italy exploited Ireland\u2019s pre-season ring-rustiness.<\/p>\n
Chris Farrell increased his chances of World Cup travel with a smart showing at inside center, but beyond that Ireland\u2019s coaching team were not handed many new selection headaches.<\/p>\n
Ireland were sloppy from the start, a curious Carbery crossfield bomb from his own 22 an unusual \u2013 and unsuccessful \u2013 exit strategy.<\/p>\n
Dave Kearney then botched a nailed-on try, knocking on at the whitewash when attempting to scoop up Carbery\u2019s hack through.<\/p>\n
Italy struck first then, converting a driven lineout when the aggressive Mbanda dived home.<\/p>\n
Carbery quickly leveled up the try count, cantering home through the 12 channel having traded places in Ireland\u2019s backline with Farrell.<\/p>\n
But just when Ireland expected to pull away, the Italians inflicted another flesh wound.<\/p>\n
Giulio Bisegni\u2019s cute grubber kick caught out Jordan Larmour in Ireland\u2019s backfield, and Carlo Canna reached the bouncing ball first, to double the visitors\u2019 try count.<\/p>\n
Finally Ireland approached something resembling a rhythm, stringing the phases together deep in Azzurri territory.<\/p>\n
Dave Kearney made amends for his early howler with a neat finish in the left corner, that owed everything to Garry Ringrose\u2019s pass out of the tackle. It enabled Larmour to fire out wide, and Kearney junior did the rest.<\/p>\n
Andrew Conway walked in a third at the death of the half, to leave Ireland leading 19-10 at the interval.<\/p>\n
Number eight Jordi Murphy capped a driven lineout for Ireland\u2019s fourth try, in a solid second-half opening.<\/p>\n
Both sides meandered through an utterly-forgettable third quarter, save for that worrying injury to Carbery.<\/p>\n
Replacement scrum-half Marmion charged down Test debutant and Italy counterpart Callum Braley to claim the hosts\u2019 fifth score.<\/p>\n