Six Nations 2023: Andy Farrell relieved as Ireland battle to 34-20 win in Italy

Andy Farrell's relief was clear for all to see as his Ireland side were made to work hard for the 34-20 win in Italy which maintains their Grand Slam hopes.

Italy's attack rattled Ireland who were only 24-20 up with 15 minutes left before a Ross Byrne penalty and Mack Hansen try closed out the match.

"All credit must go to Italy. That was a proper Test match. That was tough," Farrell told RTE Sport.

"They were physical and in attack were cutting us open from time to time."

Italy's enterprise was summed up by them running the ball from behind their own line with some stunningly intricate passing in the 60th minute, before the visitors cut out the danger near halfway.

Then after Byrne had increased Ireland's lead to seven points, the Azzurri produced intense pressure only for Juan Ignacio Brex to take the wrong option as his crosskick bounced out of play, when he had team-mates outside him, with the Irish defence looking stretched.

• Reaction as Hansen try seals Ireland win over dogged Italy

Italy had come close to shocking last season's Grand Slam winners France in their opening Six Nations contest earlier this month.

While they were less impressive when losing 31-14 to England two weeks ago, Farrell said their latest performance was testament to their continuing development under Kieran Crowley.

"Everyone can see their progression but when you are here and you are facing it… they were tough, they were resilient and in the forwards, they gave us absolutely nothing."

Pierre Bruno's breakaway try after he intercepted a Bundee Aki pass as Ireland threated to score cut the visitors' lead to 24-17 at half-time

While Ireland did waste a number of try-scoring chances, they were grateful for a vital Caelan Doris first-half turnover near his own line when the Italians looked set to score.

Shortly after that escape, the first of Hansen's two tries increased Ireland's advantage to 24-10 but Italy got right back into the contest in first-half injury-time when Pierre Bruno ran from the edge of the Azzurri's 22 to score after intercepting a Bundee Aki pass.

Once again, Doris played a crucial role in Hansen's match-clinching try in the 71st minute as he produced two rampaging carries, before Conor Murray released the wing to touch down.

Ireland's second-half performance had appeared to become inhibited as the Italians were showing all the flair before Doris' bursts helped engineer the score which eased the visitors' nerves.

In-form back row Caelan Doris was once again hugely influential for the Irish, which included the two big carries prior to Mack Hansen's late match-clinching try

Farrell's six changes from the epic win over France two weeks ago included scrum-half Murray dropping to the bench as he was replaced by Munster colleague Craig Casey, with influential skipper Johnny Sexton unavailable because of a groin injury.

Following Saturday's display, it will not be a surprise to see Farrell largely reverting to the side that started against the French, which included star centre Garry Ringrose, who pulled out of the Rome game on Friday because of a calf strain.

The Ireland coach spoke of "four or five tries that we left out there", which included James Lowe failing to ground in the opening minute and centre Aki having a second-half score ruled out, when he was correctly adjudged to have knocked on before dotting down.

Farrell also lamented his side's lack of discipline, with Aki also admitting that he was one of the prime culprits after conceding a number of penalties.

"We let them into the game through lack of discipline at times and didn't control the game as well as we should have," added Farrell.

"But Test match rugby doesn't go all your way the whole time. Even though we threw away four or five tries, we found a way."

Aki, who did score of the four tries that had already banked a bonus point before half-time, felt that Ireland's display had "fallen off a bit" after their bright start to the contest.

"Our overall performance needs to be better and our discipline needs to be better. I was one of those whose discipline wasn't good enough," added the Ireland centre.