Ireland: H Keenan; M Hansen, B Aki, S McCloskey (J O'Brien 73), J Lowe; R Byrne (J Crowley 78), C Casey (C Murray, 65); A Porter (D Kilcoyne 65), R Kelleher (D Sheehan 56), F Bealham (T O'Toole 36); I Henderson (R Baird 53), J Ryan; C Doris, J Van der Flier, J Conan (P O'Mahony 56)

Rugby World Cup: ‘I’ve never, ever seen a crowd like that’; Irish Zombie army takes Paris by storm ] An estimated 24,000 travelled over from Ireland, and while there was a strong contingent of Springbok supporters it still looked about four to one in Irish tops. Unlike the Aviva, even Ireland’s Call thundered around the cantilever stands. Andy Farrell's side set a new national record of eight straight Six Nations wins, surpassing the seven-game streak they set between 2004 and 2005 Andy Farrell apologised to his mum after being caught biting his nails during the second half of this see-sawing and highly entertainnig game. “Was I?” asked Ireland’s head coach, laughing. “I shouldn’t do that. My mother's going to be mad.”

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Ultimately, Ireland’s Grand Slam bid goes on. A five-try bonus point win making it three from three for the men in green. But this was far squeakier than anyone really expected. Robbie Henshaw and Rob Herring tries either side of Sheehan's second of the game ensured Ireland's first Grand Slam in five years, and first won in Dublin. Paolo Garbisi then reduced the deficit to four points with a penalty early in the second half. The Stadio Olimpico sniffed a major upset. Farrell started chewing his fingers. New Zealand have a few ghosts in their machine, with some of their ageing players not as evergreen as those on the other team and a level of performance that has been strong but just below the very best. Ironically, they would do well to take inspiration from one of their famous defeats: England in the 2019 semi, where a strong but unfancied team came up against a juggernaut and ran it off the road. More simply, they may just remind themselves that they absolutely battered today’s opponents in the QF the week before.

Is this the best Italy team he has faced, Clarke asks Aki: “They have always been a good team, they play with a lot of passion, you can see they want to play the game, they want to play expansive rugby and run the ball from the own try-line … we knew that, we just fell off a bit.” Leaving aside the young fellas, this Ireland squad and coach are under no illusions regarding their ability and potential. Grand Slam Champions, unbeaten in 17 matches and a purring, brutal engine in which all know their role and perform it brilliantly.The reality is, this is our third game of the competition and we expect it to be our best performance of the competition. That's how it should be and that's what we are aiming for." But it remained a one score game until 10 minutes to go, man-of-the-match Hansen scoring his second try of the contest.

Byrne will deputise for injured Leinster team-mate Johnny Sexton in the No 10 jersey while Casey comes in for fellow Munster man Conor Murray. The fledgling pair have combined well from the bench in victories over Wales and France in the opening two rounds of the tournament and Farrell expects more of the same at Stadio Olimpico. I’m 100 per cent sure there are some individuals that will take the field saying to themselves that this a big chance and big opportunity for me,” said Farrell during the week. “You’ve got to surround those people with good enough experienced players as well to be able to judge them properly, so we’re looking forward to that.” There was all sorts of manic toing and froing in the endgame before Libbok drilled a penalty from halfway to the corner, but an imposing drive was eventually stopped and held up. Scoring: 0-5 Ryan try; 5-5 Varney try; 7-5 Garbisi con; 7-10 Keenan try; 7-12 Byrne con; 10-12 Garbisi pen; 10-17 Aki try; 10-19 Byrne con; 10-24 Hansen try; 15-24 Bruno try; 17-24 Garbisi; 20-24 Garbisi pen; 20-27 Byrne pen; 20-32 Hansen try; 20-34 Byrne con He could be forgiven. This Italy team under Kieran Crowley are fast improving and the Six Nations is all the better for it.

And what do they need to seal the grand slam? “I think an overall performance … definitely on the discipline side of things … that’s one big thing we talked about the whole week … I can certainly say I was one of them who wasn’t disciplined.”

Despite their numerical disadvantage, England refused to lie down in the second half, and moved to within a point when Farrell booted his third penalty between the posts. Replacements: Ox Nche (Sharks) for Kitshoff, RG Snyman (Munster) for Mostert, Jean Kleyn (Munster) for Etzebeth, Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) for Weisse (all 49 mins); Marco van Staden (Bulls) for Kolisi (52), Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92) for Malherbe (63); Deon Fourie (Stormers) for Mbonambi (64); Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) for De Klerk (75). Speaking specifically of Byrne, he continued: "He's been great. He's earned the right to run the team and transfer everything that we have seen in training to a performance that's got authority and takes his team with him." They might have had more, but after successfully going to the corner and launching Aki, Ryan was forced into a fumble. At half-time it was only 7-3, but the crowd responded as if watching an epic.Sometimes the Boks threw two men into the air, and including a crooked throw and two more which eluded James Ryan, Ireland effectively lost five of their first eight throws.