Ireland get their Six Nations Championship campaign back on track with second-half try spree against Italy We had two different teams out there. In the first half we tried to play and kept the score close,"" said Italy coach Jacques Brunel. "But in the second half it was completely different, we suffered beneath the Irish pressure and made many mistakes."" That they did, with fly-half Tobias Botes not even providing an accurate boot to keep the scoreboard respectable. In contrast Sexton only missed the very last kick of the match in an impressive display that garnered 17 points. Ireland's runners began to run riot, especially when replacement scrum-half Eoin Reddan, with his quick hands from the ruck, appeared to speed up every attack. Stephen Ferris was outstanding alongside the imperious O'Connell, with prop Mike Ross providing some sustained work nearer the furnace, while outside Earls, Gordon D'Arcy and Rob Kearney all made decisive, eye-catching contributions. For Earls it was an important afternoon after missing the Wales defeat to be with his ill newly-born daughter. "It was really a tough few weeks for me and my partner," he said. But thankfully everything is good now and she's good and she's flying. At outside centre Earls also offered a sharp reminder that, when it comes, life after Brian O'Driscoll may not be so gloomy after all. There have often been concerns over his defence, especially after a torturous match in that respect in the World Cup quarter-final defeat by Wales. "I just made a couple of mistakes in defence in the World Cup," he said, "Today I just wanted to get out there and prove everyone wrong, and show everyone I am capable of taking over from Brian and 13 is my position. I felt good in my defence today and it is something I have been working on since I got back from the World Cup. I know my attack is there but I've been using Donnacha Ryan as a battering ram for me during training so it is all about defence for here on in for me. Prop Cian Healy, who took a horrible knock to the head in a tackle on Andrea Masi, was fine after the match, but injuries to D'Arcy (shoulder) and Kearney (groin) will be monitored during the week. Scoring 0-3 Botes pen; 3-3 Sexton pen; 8-3 Earls try; 10-3 Sexton con; 10-8 Parisse try; 10-10 Botes con; 15-10 Bowe try; 17-10 Sexton con; (h-t) 20-10 Sexton pen; 23-10 Sexton pen; 28-10 Bowe try; 30-10 Sexton con; 35-10 Court try; 37-10 Sexton con; 42-10 Trimble try. Ireland R Kearney; T Bowe, K Earls, G D'Arcy, A Trimble, J Sexton, C Murray; C Healy, R Best, M Ross, D O'Callaghan, P O'Connell, S Ferris, S O'Brien, J Heaslip. Replacements: S Cronin (for Best 69), T Court (for Healy 69), D Ryan (for O'Callaghan 58), P O'Mahony (for O'Brien 58), E Reddan, (for Murray 54), R O'Gara (for Sexton 69), F McFadden (for Earls 67). Italy A Masi; G Venditti, T Benvenuti, A Sgarbi, L McLean; T Botes, E Gori, M Rizzo, L Ghiraldini, L Cittadini, Q Geldenhuys, M Bortolami, A Zanni, R Barbieri, S Parisse. Replacements: T D'Apice (for Ghiraldini 71), F Staibano (for Cittadini 63), A Pavanello (for Geldenhuys 58), S Favaro (for Barbieri 63), F Semenzato (for Gori 71), K Burton (for Botes 58), G Canale (for Sgarbi 63). Referee Craig Joubert (South Africa).