Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has admitted that his side took time to adjust to playing Italy after their multiple dismissals.
The visitors to Dublin were reduced to 13 men by the end of the first quarter, before a third player was sent off during the closing stages.
Ireland ultimately went on to claim a 57-6 victory after scoring nine tries, but Farrell acknowledged that it had been a "weird" contest.
After the game, Farrell said: "When you've got uncontested scrums for so long within the game everyone's legs were nice and fresh, and it's the reason why Italy were nice and fresh in defence throughout, even when they went to 12 men.
"It's just weird. There's space that you think is there, and they're obviously always going to throw caution to the wind [with a] kamikaze-style defence at times in terms of whether they're flying up in the line and putting us under pressure where we needed to be more accurate.
"We understand why the rule was brought in but at the same time occasions like that will bring the rule back to everyone's attention and they'll look at it."
Ireland have moved into second position in the standings, three points adrift of leaders France and one point above England.
Darren Plant
