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.
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.
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.
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
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