Rugby-Ireland fight back to avoid Six Nations upset in Italy

Ireland recovered to claim a 26-16 victory over Italy in the Six Nations to keep their title dream alive at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday after the hosts surrendered a halftime lead to fall to a 20th consecutive defeat in the competition. The Italians failed to register a point after the break as Joe Schmidt's Ireland side clinched a bonus-point win that puts them third in the table on nine points, one point behind England and three adrift of leaders Wales.

Ireland started strongly when Quinn Roux and Jacob Stockdale crossed either side of a Tommaso Allan penalty for Italy, who rallied as tries from Edoardo Padovani and Luca Morisi combined with another Allan penalty gave them a 16-12 lead at the break. However, Keith Earls restored Ireland's lead 11 minutes into the second half before Conor Murray dived over to give the visitors their all-important fourth try. (Reporting by Alasdair Mackenzie, Editing by Ken Ferris)