Five tries in a dominant display from the Ireland U20's earned them a bonus point win against a tricky Italian side, as a Grand Slam remains on the cards.

Tries from Brian Gleeson, Fintan Gunne, James McNabney, High Cooney and Rory Telfer spurred the Irish on to victory while in back to back player of the match performances by Sam Prendergast, he kicked 19 points off the tee striking right from eight.

Italy were never going to be a joke and take a bonus point with them and will give Ireland homework to do ahead of their latter games in the campaign.

Ireland started bright in the tie, Henry McErlean was tackled illegally in the air by Matthias Douglas and Sam Prendergast kicked to the corner from an early penalty, the lineout came to nothing but prop Destiny Aminu gave away a penalty just a minute later, again Prendergast kicked to touch. 

Diarmuid Mangan made a clean catch at the lineout and it resulted in Brian Gleeson powering over under pressure for the opening try before the fourth minute, Prendergast converted for an early 7-0 scoreline.

Italy came back to use some early possession, a knock on halted the Irish after Gleeson made a turnover, from there the pressure came at the other end, Italy piled on close to the try line before winning a penalty, Giovanni Sante kicked to the corner, a clean lineout followed but they failed to use the ball under warnings from referee Holly Davidson and Ireland had a scrum.

Penalised at the scrum, Italy had another bite at the cherry close to the Irish line, Sante kicked to the corner and after working their maul to drive at the Irish line, hooker Giovanni Quattrini drove over, but Sante missed the conversion and failed to level the game.

Just three minutes later Ireland came back and hit their second try albeit under bizarre circumstances, Fintan Gunn getting over  with a clever move after Italy stopped playing after a knock on, Davidson called advantage and the scrum-half was alert to the call and scored a bizarre try, but more points on the board as Prendergast converted.

Prendergast took a shot at the posts after 21 minutes, looking to take chances as they got them Ireland moved ahead by 14, however four minutes later Ruadhan Quinn was offside, in front of the posts and Sante made no mistake pointing to the posts and landing three from the tee.

A beautiful 50:22 by Prendergast had Ireland in great position, the set-piece worked perfectly for the men in green and Quinn made ground to come within a whisker of the line before James McNabney picked at the back of the ruck and crossed the whitewash, a third try and Prendergast again on target to add the extras.

The Azzurri came back in search of a score but despite Sante making a brilliant 50:22 that got Italy within range but it failed to materialise, minutes before the end of the half Italy had a penalty but Sante kicked the ball dead.

Prendergast struck a penalty in added on time to boost the Irish lead to 27-8 going into the break, after a terrific counter by the Irish it was a sixes and sevens defence by Italy that saw them concede another three to their visitors.

Into the second half and Ireland looked a little worse for wears early on, while Italy boosted by Ireland showing ill discipline kicked for the corner, another clean lineout take and a powerful drive from the maul, Jacopo Botturi got over for their second try, with the aid of the left upright Sante added the extra two to make it 27-15 after 48 minutes.

Momentum would not shift however and force Ireland to a calamitous start to the second half, a side entry by Marcos Francesco Gallorini gave Ireland a penalty and Prendergast kicked to the corner, from there Ireland tried to power over with their strong lineout maul, but it failed and after a recycle they had a couple of phases before passing it out the back and Hugh Cooney powered over for the bonus point and Prendergast landed the extra two.

Despite trailing by a hefty margin, Italy could still play well and just before the hour mark, ignited their spark once again in what was the score of the night, a super step by Nicola Bozzoi made space and he carried the ball well to offload to Francois Carlo Mey, who dived over in the corner, Sante converted a beauty front he sideline and made it 34-22.

Prendergast added another penalty on 66 minutes to extend the lead, but deservedly minutes later the Italins added their bonus point, after another strong lineout their maul drove in and at the back replacement hooker Nicholas Gasperini dotted down, replacement Simone Brisighella's conversion was off target.

With two minutes to go replacement Rory Telfer rounded off a strong Irish performance, getting the ball out wide he was under pressure but held off his man to get over before diving over the corner. Prendergast, the player of the match from the tie, struck a beauty from an acute angle, landing the strike to make it eight from eight.