Joe Schmidt wants improved accuracy as Ireland look to France and Wales in Six Nations

Quinn Roux, Jacob Stockdale, Keith Earls and Conor Murray crossed for an Ireland side again struggling for fluency and rhythm.

Edoardo Padovani and Luca Morisi bagged tries for Italy to lead 16-12 at half-time, but Ireland edged home to leave the Azzurri still without a Six Nations win under O'Shea's stewardship.

"The bottom line is the win and the bonus point. We will go home happy with the points haul but not the performance," said Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.

"Credit to Italy, they made it very tough at the ruck area and they put us under pressure.

"Our performance was summed up in the last play, where Jacob Stockdale does brilliantly to get out of our half but then we are one pass from scoring and it goes to ground. We have to be more accurate than that.

"Johnny Sexton was taking a bit of a hammering out there and he got beaten up, but I;m sure he'll dust himself off."

Ireland captain, Peter O'Mahony added: "We knew how difficult it is to come to Rome. It's an incredibly physical battle and they are a super rugby team. They put us under the pump and we expected that.

"There is certainly stuff we can do better, and I know a lot is expected of us, but five points away from home is good because it is difficult to win on the road in the Six Nations.

"We needed a bit more accuracy in the second half and we were forcing a few things so we had to revert to our game plan and get through some phases. We need to improve on some of the good stuff and the things we need to get better at."

And try scorer Jacob Stockdale added: ""We are happy to get the bonus point but it's frustrating we didn't put down as good a marker as we wanted to.

"If we knew what it was, we would fix it, but we have two wins out of three in this tournament and we are just focusing on the next game."

On his try: "It was a bit of a lucky one and the ball managed to sit for me but it was good to finish it off."

Italy head coach Conor O'Shea said: "We talked about trying to play with ambition and intensity which we did, but we gifted Jacob Stockdale a try. We lost players and had second rows playing in the back row. We have to create a consistency to get to where we want but hopefully people will see this is not an Italy side that is going to roll over.

"There might be a disparity in money and investment but you cannot buy heart. We showed heart and desire but it's another result and we have to dust ourselves down. It's a nice easy one away at Twickenham next and I want to see them play without fear.

"The players know we are doing the right things but we have to take what we do on the training field onto the pitch. There is a real belief in what we are doing but we know it's a mountain to climb."