Ireland U20 fall to Italy defeat despite late brace of tries from Kelly Burke
Women’s U20 Summer Series: Italy 24, Ireland 17
Ireland women U20 coach Niamh Briggs. Photo: Sportsfile
Despite replacement hooker Kelly Burke grabbing a late brace of tries, the Ireland U20s fell to a seven-point defeat at the hands of host nation Italy in their second game of the Women’s Six Nations Summer Series in Parma today.
Eager to bounce back from a 33-10 reversal against England five days earlier, Ireland eventually broke the deadlock on 22 minutes when industrious back-row Ivana Kiripati powered over the whitewash for a try that was supplemented by an Ellen O’Sullivan-Sexton conversion.
Niamh Briggs’ side subsequently lost both Amanda McQuade and Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair to injury (Eadaoin Murtagh was also withdrawn on the half-hour) and in their absence, Italian prop Vittoria Zanette pounced for a converted try that left the teams tied at 7-7 during the interval.
Today's Sports News in 90 Seconds - 9th July
The game was very much up for grabs on the resumption, but Italy created daylight between the teams after winger Martina Busana crashed over to the right of the posts on the stroke of 50 minutes.
The Villorba player followed up this effort with another try on the opposite flank to move the Italians further clear and having failed to add the bonuses to her own scores, she expertly supplied the extras to a Greta Copat finish inside the final-quarter.
This left all of 17 points between the teams but while they eventually came out on the wrong side of the result, Burke’s tries in the 73rd and 80th minutes will offer Ireland plenty of encouragement heading into their final game of the tournament against Scotland this Sunday.
Scorers - Italy: M Busana 2, V Zanette, G Copat tries, M Busana 2 cons. Ireland: K Burke 2, I Kiripati tries, E O’Sullivan-Sexton con.
Italy: R Emma Grassi; E Cecati (M Pirpiliu h-t), A Pellizzon (V Zeni 62), G Corradini, M Busana; S Mannini, N Mastrangelo (A Antonietta Bitonci h-t); V Zanette (A Fortuna 51), C Cheli (D Spinelli 51), A Maione (A Cittadini h-t); M A Della Sala (E Costantini 74), E Costantini (F Andreoli h-t); M Tonellotto, M Jelic, E Errichiello (G Copat 62).
Ireland: N Gallagher (H Clarke 53); R O’Connor, L Linn (K Flannery h-t), E Nic Dhonnacha, C Barrett; E O’Sullivan-Sexton (L Linn 61), M Goulding (J Gaffney 57); G Burke (H Wilson 53), A McQuade (K Burke 25), S Barrett (L Morris 57); J Neill, C Ni Chonchobhair (B Heylmann 25); F Oviawe, E Murtagh (R Maher 30 (S Barrett 72)), I Kiripati.
Referee: B Casares-Fernandez (Spain).
