Italy 24 Ireland 51: Ireland's first Six Nations championship slipped away in dramatic fashion despite an emphatic win over Italy in Rome. Needing to score 24 or more points to overhaul Ireland at the top of the table, France scored a last minute try against Scotland to deny Eddie O'Sullivan's side a rare title.
England are still in with a slim chance of catching France but require a cricket score against Wales to overhaul their rivals.
Ireland may have rode their luck in the first half, with more than a hint of forward passes in the lead up to two of their three tries, but they simply overwhelmed their beleaguered hosts after the break to pile the pressure on France.
First-half tries by Girvan Dempsey, Simon Easterby and Gordon D'Arcy gave Ireland a 20-12 lead at halftime, but it was four tries in the opening 20 minutes of the second half by Dempsey, Shane Horgan, Denis Hickie and Ronan O'Gara that opened up the game.
Hickie grabbed his second try of the match late on while Italy scored two consolation tries through captain Marco Bortolami and fullback Roland De Marigny in the final 10 minutes.
"We scored 51 points, we got eight tries - we can't be anything but happy with our performance. Our accuracy and execution were much better than they were last week (against Scotland)," Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan told reporters.
"You want to keep a clean slate, but that's the way the game goes. You have to remember that we were in the position that we had to score tries."
Around 16,000 Ireland fans had followed their team to the Italian capital on St Patrick's day in the hope of celebrating their side's first Six Nations title in 22 years.
Despite the swathes of green inside the 25,000-capacity Flaminio it was Ireland who made a nervy start, fumbling a pair of line-outs before O'Gara opened the scoring with a sixth-minute penalty.
Italy were showing no such inhibitions. Number eight Sergio Parisse's courageous tackling stopped a series of attacks, and flyhalf Ramiro Pez responded to O'Gara with a drop goal and a penalty of his own.
Ireland slowly found their rhythm and got their first try after 17 minutes, a rapid series of short passes cutting through Italy's defence for fullback Dempsey to score.
Their second, four minutes later, owed more to good fortune. Italy lost possession in a scrum, Ireland kicked the ball forward along the ground and Horgan collected, breaking down the wing before offloading for flanker Easterby to go over.
Pez kept Italy in touch with another drop goal and a penalty, but D'Arcy struck on the stroke of halftime, jinking through Italy's defence for a third try. O'Gara's conversion - his first in three attempts - gave Ireland breathing space at the interval.
Ireland almost snatched an opportunistic fourth try shortly after the restart. Hickie intercepted a Parisse pass and punted the ball upfield, but was beaten to it by Mirco Bergamasco on the line.
They couldn't stem the tide for long, O'Gara releasing Dempsey to dodge round Parisse to touch down. The hosts by now were on the ropes. Quick passing from a line-out left them stretched in defence, creating space for Horgan to get Ireland's fifth try.
Italy's backline was pulled out of shape again in the 55th minute, when O'Gara whipped a long pass out to Hickie and the winger rounded a couple of tackles to score. O'Gara scored next, making the most of a loose ball that broke free after Brian O'Driscoll had been brought down.
Bortolami beat Hickie to a high crossfield ball to grab Italy's first try in the 75th minute.Hickie responded immediately before De Marigny trimmed Ireland's lead with a try on the final whistle.
Italy: 15-Roland De Marigny; 14-Kaine Robertson, 13-Ezio Galon (22-Matteo Barbini 67), 12-Mirco Bergamasco, 11-Matteo Pratichetti; 10-Ramiro Pez (21-Andrea Scanavacca 41), 9-Alessandro Troncon (20-Paul Griffen 80); 8-Sergio Parisse (18-Valerio Bernabo 70), 7-Maurizio Zaffiri (19-Josh Sole 3), 6-Alessandro Zanni, 5-Marco Bortolami, 4-Santiago Dellape, 3-Carlos Nieto (1-Salvatore Perugini 73), 2-Carlo Festuccia (16-Leonardo Ghiraldini 80), 1-Salvatore Perugini (17-Fabio Staibano 55).
Ireland: 15-Girvan Dempsey; 14-Shane Horgan, 13-Brian O'Driscoll (22-Andrew Trimble 64), 12-Gordon D'Arcy, 11-Denis Hickie; 10-Ronan O'Gara, 9-Peter Stringer; 8-Denis Leamy, 7-David Wallace, 6-Simon Easterby, 5-Mick O'Driscoll (18-Trevor Hogan 57), 4-Donncha O'Callaghan, 3-John Hayes, 2-Rory Best (16-Jerry Flannery 65), 1-Marcus Horan (17-Simon Best 70, 1-Marcus Horan 80).
