Ireland versus Italy would have seemed like an ideal game for Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli to make his Six Nations bow.
A gulf between the teams on paper, tension is rare when these two meet. If he could get through it without being the centre of attention, it would be a job well done.
Unfortunately for Amashukeli, he had to be the bad guy when his 18th minute red card of Italian hooker Hame Favia led to confusion both on the pitch and in the stands.
His decision was correct, and to his credit it was one that required him to dive deep into rugby's book of laws.
With Faiva sent off following a dangerous hit on Ireland's Dan Sheehan it left the Italians without a hooker, after their previous number two Gianmarco Lucchesi had suffered an early shoulder injury.
It meant we would have uncontested scrums for the final 62 minutes, but because of that Italy would have to be reduced to 13 players.
It took several minutes for the referee to explain the decision to captain Michele Lamaro, who had to send his number eight Toa Halafihi from the game, and prepare for more than an hour of rugby with a two-man disadvantage.
The Italians were confused, but the supporters even more so. Only those who purchased a ref-mic earpiece will have been privy to Amashukeli's conversations with Lamaro, and their confusion was audible after it was announced Italy would be further punished.
Already on a 34-game losing run in the Six Nations, Italy were doomed to a 35th in a row. What a way to bring up their century of defeats in the competition.
At the time of the red card Ireland were 7-3 in front, courtesy of Joey Carbery's fourth minute try, and with a two-man advantage they naturally cruised their way towards a nine-try 57-6 victory.
To compound the Italian misery, they finished the game with 12 men, Braam Steyn yellow carded on 74 minutes for deliberately batting the ball into touch to deny an Irish try.
Jamison Gibson Park and Peter O'Mahony crossed for tries in the first half, either side of one for Ulster's debutant Michael Lowry, the full-back's beaming smile one positive to take away from a game where we were certain to learn little.
The second half was as worthwhile as yesterday's captain's run. Ireland were nowhere near their best as they emptied the benches early, with Andrew Porter coming off on 52 minutes with a lower leg injury, with Furlong and Beirne also rested by the hour mark.
While most people will forget the game quickly, Lowry will remember it forever, linking up with Johnny Sexton to score his second try on 54 minutes.
Further scores followed with James Lowe adding two more, while the excellent Ryan Baird get his first in an international shirt, before Kieran Treadwell powered over with the final play of the game to cap off the easiest of wins.
Ireland's showed variety from the kick-off. Baird and Doris both made ground with hard, direct carries, Porter hit Pierre Bruno with a tackle so hard it could be heard in the stands, while there were soft hands from Carbery and Sheehan which prompted the gaps to appear.
It was Sheehan and Carbery who combined to finish off Ireland's opening try in the fourth minute, but the hard work was done by the back row. O'Mahony's deft inside pass to Doris saw him charge through the open space, with his offload in the tackle to Sheehan creating the simple two-on-one from which Carbery scored under the posts.
To Italy's credit, they recovered from the early hit, with captain Michele Lamaro forcing an excellent penalty from the restart, and when Beirne strayed offside on 12 minutes full-back Edoardo Padovani cut Ireland's lead with a rocket of a kick from 50 metres.
The Italian purple patch was over as soon as it began; Substitute Faiva had only been on the pitch for 10 minutes when he hit Sheehan with a dangerous tackle to the chin.
The red card that followed was straightforward, the mess it created was not.
With Faiva red-carded and Halafihi the extra player sacrificed, Italy were down to 13 men, with more than an hour still to play. Game over.
Within two minutes Ireland had their second try. Trying to exploit the extra space in the defensive line, they moved infield before attacking to Lowe on the blindside. The Leinster wing held off the tame tackle attempt by Padovani, before passing back inside to Gibson-Park who completed his run in under the posts, giving Carbery the simplest of conversions to make it 14-3.
Every single scrum now looked like a golden try-scoring opportunity, with Italy two players down in the line of defence.
On the half hour mark, the debutant got in for his try as Ireland exposed the wide open spaces Italy were powerless to close, Lowry skipping in to receive the biggest cheer of the day.
Shortly before half time the mission was complete as Ireland secured the bonus point. It started with a powerful carry from Van der Flier, before Ireland once again pulled the ball to the left wing. Almost every attack had an overlap, and this time it was the captain O'Mahony who took advantage to dive over in the corner.
For the second time Carbery was off target with the conversion, and with the final act of the half Italian out-half Garbisi kicked a penalty in front of the posts.
Even on 40 minutes, it was just a consolation, cutting the gap from 24-3 to 24-6.
It was unlikely Italy would be able to turn the game around, and even less likely they would do it via three-pointers, but every shot at goal would serve to halt Ireland's momentum and give the gasping visitors a breather, which was as much as they could hope for.
Early in the second half Garbisi took another shot at goal but it drifted wide, as Ireland came out flat from their break.
It took them 12 minutes to fire their first shots of the second half, as James Lowe crossed for their fifth try of the day.
Beirne made the initial incision in the Italy defence with a powerful carry getting them close to the line, and with a three man overlap, Gibson-Park needed to just throw the ball towards the empty space, with Lowe the recipient.
Carbery's conversion was once again wide, leaving him with just two out of five, and it was his last action before he was replaced by Sexton on 53 minutes.
Sexton's impact was instant, with his trademark loop piercing a hole towards the 22, offloading in the tackle to Lowry who coasted over for his second score of what was becoming a dream debut.
By the time Ryan Baird scored Ireland's seventh try on 70 minutes, people were already heading for the exits. Those that left earlier missed another moment of stunning athleticism from the versatile Leinster man as he blocked down Alessandro Fusco's box-kick 40 metres out, before charging down the loose ball to collect and score his first Test try on his eighth international cap.
Steyn's yellow card on 74 minutes created a farcical final period with Ireland three players up, and it resulted in two more tries.
Lowry unselfishly turned down the chance of a hattrick to give Lowe an easy run to the corner, before Ulster's Treadwell capped off his first appearance in more than four years with the ninth try of the day to make it 57-6, four points short of a record win against the luckless Italians.
Ireland: Michael Lowry; Mack Hansen, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Joey Carbery, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong; Tadhg Beirne, Ryan Baird, Peter O'Mahony (capt), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Replacements: Rob Herring, Dave Kilcoyne, Finlay Bealham, Kieran Treadwell, Jack Conan, Craig Casey, Johnny Sexton, James Hume.
Italy: Edoardo Padovani; Pierre Bruno, Ignacio Brex, Leonardo Marin, Monty Ioane; Paolo Garbisi, Stephen Varney; Danillo Fischetti, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Pietro Ceccarelli; Niccolo Cannone, Federico Ruzza; Giovanni Pettinelli, Michele Lamaro (capt), Toa Halafihi.
Replacements: Epalahame Faiva, Ivan Nemer, Tiziano Pasquali, David Sisi, Manuel Zuliani, Braam Steyn, Alessandro Fusco, Marco Zanon.
