Ireland 29-10 Italy: Joey Carbery injury blights victory in Dublin

Joey Carbery wasn't able to walk off the field and looked in some discomfort

Joey Carbery suffered an ankle injury scare as Ireland eased past Italy 29-10 in their first World Cup warm-up match in Dublin.

Fly-half Carbery will face an anxious wait to discover whether the new concern will dent his World Cup hopes.

Premier playmaker Johnny Sexton is expected to be fit shortly following a thumb strain, but Ireland can ill afford to lose either of their main back-line pivots.

Ireland will open their World Cup by taking on Scotland on September 22, so any significant ankle issue now would threaten Carbery's participation in Japan.

Connacht's Jack Carty and Leinster's Ross Byrne would be the men to understudy British and Irish Lions fly-half Sexton in Japan, should Carbery miss out through injury.

New Zealand-born Carbery offers Ireland added selection flexibility though, with the ability to cover full back, and even centre at a push.

Carbery, Dave Kearney, Andrew Conway, Jordi Murphy and Kieran Marmion all crossed as an experimental Ireland line-up secured a routine AVIVA Stadium victory.

Maxime Mbanda and Carlo Canna bagged first-half tries as Italy exploited Ireland's pre-season ring-rustiness.

Andrew Conway took home the man of the match award

Chris Farrell increased his chances of World Cup travel with a smart showing at inside centre, but beyond that Ireland's coaching team were not handed many new selection headaches.

Ireland were sloppy from the start including a curious Carbery cross-field kick from his own 22 an unusual - and unsuccessful - exit strategy. Dave Kearney then squandered a nailed-on try, knocking on at the whitewash when attempting to scoop up Carbery's hack through.

Italy struck cleanly first, converting a driving lineout well before the powerful Mbanda dived home.

Carbery quickly levelled up the try count though, cantering home through the 12 channel having traded places in Ireland's backline with Farrell.

After this meeting with Italy, Ireland will play three more matches before travelling to Japan

But just when Ireland expected to pull away, the Italians inflicted another flesh wound.

Giulio Bisegni's cute grubber kick caught out Jordan Larmour in Ireland's backfield, and Carlo Canna reached the bouncing ball first, to double the visitors' try tally.

Finally Ireland approached something resembling a rhythm, stringing the phases together deep in Azzurri territory.

Dave Kearney made amends for his early howler with a neat finish in the left corner, that owed everything to Garry Ringrose's pass out of the tackle. It enabled Larmour to fire out wide, and Kearney did the rest.

Andrew Conway walked in a third try at the end of the first half to leave the hosts leading 19-10 at the interval.

No 8 Jordi Murphy capped another successful driving lineout for Ireland's fourth try that started the second-half solidly.

However after that, both sides then meandered through a largely forgettable third quarter, except for that worrying injury to Carbery.

The final say of the match went to the replacement scrum-half Marmion who charged down Callum Braley to secure the home side's fifth and final score.