I, for one, am grateful that Munster players are better team players than Munster fans.

Madigan puts the ball out of play and thats full time. Its an 8th victory in a row for the Irish, and they get their title defence off to a win. In truth however this was a poor game between two sides guilty of innacuracy and sloppy handling. Eventually the Italians tired and two lapses in concentration gave Ireland 2 tries. The defensive effort from the Italians typified by the 200 tackles made by the home side, but in the end it wasnt enough. The sin binning was crucial, Ireland scoring 14 points in the period when Italy were down to 14. Thanks again for joining us here on Ultimate Rugby, be sure to follow coverage of France vs Scotland next on the app

Great win for munster

Liamad , get your eyes tested

Great Munster showing today. Shows Schmidt what'll happen when he's a few Munster men in the team. Nice win to start the 6 nations. Push on now and get ready for next week

haimona deserved that. parisse didn't knock it on

man of the match anyone?

Thanks

Thank you UR for this coverage!