The Irish dominated the early exchanges, and made the breakthrough after Coghlan Murray accepted a brilliant Michael Kearney lay-off before sneeking in the corner.

The Italians were second best but nearly got themselves on the scoreboard when Guglielmo Palazzani hit an ambitious penalty from the half-way line.

Adverse conditions induced more Italian errors, which played into Ireland’s hands, and Coghlan Murray was the architect for Ireland’s second try in the 24th minute.

After a marauding run, he offloaded to David Doyle, before the ball was switched out for Luke Marshall to touch home.

Marshall was involved in Ireland’s third try when he cleverly spread play to Kelly who travelled 80m to carry the ball over the line.

The Italians were finally given something to cheer about when Nicola Quaglio pounced on a loose ball and Palazzani applied the finishing touches.

But Ireland were not done as Kelly set up Coghlan Murray, who showed the Italian defence a clean pair of heels, before going over for his second try and Jackson added the conversion.

Daniel Qualter rounded off a terrific move with a try on the stroke of half-time before Jackson despatched his second conversion to put the Irish 29-10 ahead.

The Irish had to defend resiliently after the restart but held out for victory in a scoreless second-half.