Grand Slam up for discussion in Ireland camp, admits Hansen

Mack Hansen insists in-house Grand Slam talk remains relatively muted after his two tries helped Ireland stutter past Italy to remain in pole position for Guinness Six Nations glory.

The world's top-ranked nation were far from convincing on Saturday afternoon in Rome but registered a third consecutive bonus-point win thanks to a tense 34-20 victory.

Italy trailed by just four points midway through the second half and continued to pose a significant threat to Ireland’s quest to become champions until man-of-the-match Hansen crossed for a second time late on.

Andy Farrell’s men have a fortnight to prepare for a trip to Scotland on 12 March before a championship finale at home to England six days later.

While Connacht wing Hansen admits there is some in-camp title discussion, he says players are not getting ahead of themselves.

"We do talk about it," the 24-year-old said of a potential Grand Slam. "It’s hard to think about it too much because we do have to take it week by week.

"We can’t be thinking about England now, we can’t be thinking that we’ve already beaten Scotland, a really good Scotland team.

"We are going to have to go over Scotland and then go from there.

"Of course there’s a chance to win a Grand Slam from there. It probably will be in the back of a few people’s minds here and there but it’s still a thing you just have to take week by week."

Italy 20-34 Ireland: Hansen goes in under the posts and Ireland finally put some clear daylight between themselves and Italy.