Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
IRELAND ARE STILL looking for their first points of the 2023 Women’s Six Nations after Greg McWilliams’ side fell to a 24-7 defeat to Italy in Parma.
While this game was seen as an opportunity for Ireland to finally put some points on the table following defeats to Wales and France in the opening rounds of the championship, a blunt Ireland attack struggled in the Italian sunshine, with the visitors not scoring their first points of the game until the 67th minute.
The build-up to this fixture was dominated by an in-depth report in The Telegraph published earlier this week, in which the IRFU was accused of sexism.
McWilliams had urged his players to help break the ‘negative momentum’ around the group but they now face a difficult challenge to avoid the wooden spoon – they remain rooted to the bottom of the table with games against England (home) and Scotland (away) to come.
The Ireland head coach made three changes to his team for this round three fixture, with Sale fullback Lauren Delany coming in for Méabh Deely, while Railway Union centre Anna McGann and scrum-half Ailsa Hughes replaced Vicky Irwin and Molly Scuffil-McCabe.
And while Ireland will take encouragement from some of their play at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, their lineout faltered throughout and promising attacking play repeatedly broke down through unforced errors and a lack of cohesion in possession.
Ireland's Aoife Doyle and Italy's Aura Muzzo. Giuseppe Fama / INPHO
Giuseppe Fama / INPHO / INPHO
A tense start saw Ireland survive some early Italian pressure and slowly grow into the game across a tight opening 20 minutes, where the visitors failed to make the most of some encouraging attacking phases, their loose work around the lineout proving costly in the Italy 22.
Italy – who were also looking for their first win of the championship – were managing to frustrate Ireland at the breakdown although their discipline was an issue, coughing up five penalties in the opening quarter alone.
Ireland’s discipline was much better, although unforced errors again crept into their game with poor handling a recurring issue.
Italy looked much sharper with ball in hand and finally broke the deadlock when they struck with a clinical attacking move down the left wing just before the half hour mark.
After smart hands by the lively Beatrice Rigoni and Alyssa D’Inga, the ball was moved wide to Aura Muzzo, who carried into the Ireland 22 before playing the return pass to Rigoni, who beat two defenders and found the support run of Sofia Stefan. Michela Sillari added the extras to hand the home side a 7-0 lead.
Ireland continued to threaten in flashes – Aoife Dalton making an excellent break only to find herself with no support, before Natasja Behan went close in the corner with the clock in the red.
Just before half time, following an Ireland scrum under the posts, Lauren Delaney was stopped short of the line before a Grace Moore knock-on brought a frustrating opening period to a close.
Despite trailing at the break and being held scoreless, Ireland were managing to ask questions of Italy, but the second half got off to a desperately disappointing start.
After Ireland lost possession from another lineout, Italy managed to strike from their own half with D’Inca applying the finish to score her second try of championship. Sillari kicked the conversion and just three minutes into the second half, Italy had stretched their lead out to 14-0.
While those lineout struggles continued, Ireland enjoyed long periods of possession and managed to piece together some good passages of attack but ultimately couldn’t break down a well-organised Italian defence, with the home side always looking a threat on the counter-attack as Ireland began to tire.
Advertisement
Italy added another three points just after the hour mark when Moore was pinged for a side entry, Sillari’s penalty making it a three-score game.
Ireland's Natasja Behan, Grace Moore, Aoife Dalton and Lauren Delany. Giuseppe Fama / INPHO
Giuseppe Fama / INPHO / INPHO
Sixty-seven minutes in, Ireland finally found some reward for their efforts.
After avoiding another lost lineout thanks to an Italy knock-on, a big shove at the scrum from five metres out resulted in a penalty try, as Hannah O’Connor quickly made her presence felt just minutes after entering the action.
Ireland pushed for a second score, with a brilliant Deirbhile Nic a Bháird break carrying them deep into the Italy half and leading to an Ireland penalty. Ireland kicked to the corner, and while this time they claimed the ball from the lineout, some dogged work by Giordana Duca killed the maul as the home side survived another Ireland trip to the 22.
As the game entered the final minutes, Italy sealed the win with a well-executed third try, D’Inca collecting a chip kick from Rigoni to step inside and score her second of the evening.
Sillari’s conversion pushed the score out to 24-7 as Italy recorded just their second Six Nations win against Ireland from 17 meetings.
Italy scorers:
Tries – Stefan, D’Inca (2)
Conversions – Sillari [3/3]
Penalty – Sillari [1/1]
Ireland scorers:
Try – Penalty
ITALY: Beatrice Capomaggi; Aura Muzzo, Michela Sillari, Beatrice Rigoni; Alyssa D’Inca; Veronica Madia (Emma Stevanin 64), Sofia Stefan (captain); Gaia Maris, Vittoria Vecchini, Lucia Gai ( Sara Seye 68); Sara Tounesi, Giordana Duca; Francesca Sgorbini (Valeria Fedrighi 57), Isabella Locatelli (Alissa Ranuccini 71), Giada Franco.
IRELAND: Lauren Delany; Aoife Doyle (Vicky Irwin 77), Aoife Dalton, Anna McGann, Natasja Behan (Méabh Deely 62); Dannah O’Brien, Ailsa Hughes (Molly Scuffil-McCabe 57); Linda Djougang, Neve Jones (Clara Nielson 71), Christy Haney (Kathryn Buggy 52); Nichola Fryday (captain), Sam Monaghan; Dorothy Wall (Brittany Hogan 59), Grace Moore (Hannah O’Connor 66), Deirbhile Nic a Bháird.
Referee: Aurélie Groizeleau [FFR].
Written by Ciarán Kennedy
The Journal publishes the biggest breaking news in Irish and international sport but for all of The 42′s insightful analysis and sharp sportswriting, subscribe here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
4 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Aww they’re a young team. I thought there were some great moments from the Irish girls, they just need some more time and a little tweaking here and there. They’ll be grand in time.
Two men due in court in connection with seizure of €1.4m worth of cocaine in Dublin
18 mins ago
275
PodcastThe Candidate
Ireland's big defence question and back garden cabin fever
39 mins ago
365
Darndale
Discovery of human hand in yard of Dublin primary school not thought to be malicious
Updated
16 hrs ago
57.2k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say