Phenomenal O'Driscoll leads sack of Rome

Italy 13 Ireland 37

Five tries spread among five different backs, an assured display from fly-half David Humphreys and an away double to kick off the Six Nations: Ireland's cup runneth over – and they must feel more than ever that it could be the silver one that is the Championship trophy.

Humphreys survived some initial jitters – indeed, the Irish team did as a whole – but last night the Coliseum was in danger of crumbling, with the green-clad fans claiming to be holding ante-post betting slips showing their team at 20-1 for the Grand Slam. The odds have been cut well into single figures by now.

Humphreys held the reins throughout last year's Six Nations, when Ireland suffered heavy defeats away to England and France. This time the two so-called heavyweights of Europe must travel to Dublin – the French are there first in a fortnight's time – and what a welcome they will get.

There were lapses in Irish handling yesterday; unusually even their richly gifted captain, Brian O'Driscoll, was often guilty. But almost every time the Irish got within sniffing distance of the Italian line, they scored. The loss of their loosehead prop, Reggie Corrigan, to a broken wrist, which will put him out for six to eight weeks, but the forwards were generally in fine fettle.

This was a record Irish win on Italian soil to add to the same achievement in Scotland a week ago. No team in Championship history have been required to hit the road twice inside seven days, and whatever the strength of the opposition, there was satisfaction at those statistics alone. "We had a very intense game last Sunday, two travel days during the week and we spent the first 15 minutes defending, which was tough," said Ireland's coach, Eddie O'Sullivan. "It might not have been as clinical as against the Scots, but we kept our composure and by and large we dealt with the errors well."

O'Driscoll was billed as the "Fenomeno Irlandese" in yesterday's La Gazzetta dello Sport, and Italy deployed the flanker-turned-wing Mauro Bergamasco as an auxiliary centre to deal with him. There were some less than phenomenal fumbles from O'Driscoll, and he was also often bottom-feeding in the rucks to douse Italian fires stoked by their opening defeat of Wales. But the Lions centre went one clear of Brendan Mullin's Irish record of 17 tries when he got Ireland's fourth, midway through the second half, and every other Championship side would give their right arm for him, even if Corrigan certainly would not appreciate the reference.

In truth, Italy rarely gained a foothold in their opponents' 22, and very early on there were clear indications of Irish supremacy at ruck and scrum. The first Italian put-in was met by an emphatic wheel, with Alessandro Troncon at scrum-half consequently bundled, man and ball, into touch. After 17 minutes, confirming an emphatic shift in the run of play, Ireland opened the scoring. Denis Hickie's boot took play into the Italy 22, Paolo Vaccari kept the ball infield only for his side to concede a penalty, and Humphreys kicked for a lineout which Malcolm O'Kelly caught. Victor Costello peeled off the maul, and though the flanker was held, enough of a gap presented itself for Peter Stringer to plant the try past Troncon's despairing grasp. Humphreys converted for 7-0, and after 25 minutes added a straightforward penalty goal.

Italy's blindside flanker, Andrea De Rossi, might as well as have worn a green jersey, the poor man was facing his own line so often, and he carried over for a five-metre scrum which ended with Keith Gleeson passing out of the tackle for John Kelly to score in the right-hand corner.

Diego Dominguez and Humphreys swapped penalties, but the former did not finish his 74th Test, being replaced by Ramiro Pez, who promptly twisted an ankle.

That was after Ireland had gone 23-3 up through Humphreys' finish to his own garryowen after a tidy set-up by Gleeson, O'Driscoll and Stringer. Denis Dallan battered through for an Italian try from a tapped penalty, but Ireland responded with Costello's lineout take, Foley's charge and O'Driscoll's split of the cover to the posts.

Pez, playing on one leg, slotted a penalty but again the reply was swift: Humphreys broke 15 metres from behind a scrum, and O'Driscoll thought about try No 19 before setting up Geordan Murphy instead. By the end, the dominant O'Kelly was winning Italian lineout ball from a standing start.

"You're never at your best in the first couple of games," O'Driscoll said afterwards. All the more reason for France and England to watch out.

Italy 13 Ireland 37
Try: Dallan; Tries: Stringer, Kelly, Humphreys, O'Driscoll, Murphy
Con: Pez; Cons: Humphreys 3
Pens: Dominguez, Pez; Pens: Humphreys 2

Half-time: 3-18 Attendance: 22,500

Italy: P Vaccari (Calvisano); Mauro Bergamasco (Treviso), C Stoica (Castres), G Raineri (Calvisano), D Dallan (Treviso); D Dominguez (Stade Français), A Troncon (Treviso, capt); G De Carli (Calvisano), C Festuccia (Gran Parma), R Martinez (Treviso), C Bezzi (Viadana), M Bortolami (Padova), A De Rossi (Calvisano), A Persico (Viadana), M Phillips (Viadana). Replacements: L Castrogiovanni (Calvisano) for Martinez, 60; S Palmer (Treviso) for Phillips, 71; R Pez (Rotherham) for Dominguez, 47; Mirco Bergamasco (Padova) for Dallan, 74.

Ireland: G Murphy (Leicester); J Kelly (Munster), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, capt), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster); D Humphreys (Ulster), P Stringer (Munster); R Corrigan (Leinster), S Byrne (Leinster), J Hayes (Munster), G Longwell (Ulster), M O'Kelly (Leinster), V Costello (Leinster), K Gleeson (Leinster), A Foley (Munster). Replacements: F Sheahan (Munster) for Byrne, 71; M Horan (Munster) for Corrigan, h-t; L Cullen (Leinster) for Longwell, 62; A Quinlan (Munster) for Costello, 71; R Henderson (Munster) for Kelly, 78.

Referee: T Spreadbury (England).