No joy for Ireland as Italy hold on to inflict another defeat

It was the first time Italy won a Women’s Six Nations game on Irish soil and they did it with a four-try bonus point. Ireland’s losing run in the championship now extends to seven games.

It had all started so well. Ireland did to Italy what France did to Ireland last week and they opened with waves of attack.

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand and Enya Breen following Ireland’s defeat to Italy at the RDS in women’s Six Nations

They got their reward in the seventh minute. Italy full-back Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on and Ireland were awarded a penalty try. Béibhinn Parsons and Aoife Wafer were humming and got the record crowd going. It all looked so promising.

However Ireland’s 70 per cent possession after half an hour was not paying off and it was Italy who showed a clinical ruthlessness. Similar to France last week, Ireland’s inability to contain lineout mauls came back to haunt them as Italy’s maul worked to great effect with hooker Vittoria Vecchini dotting down for a try in the 24th minute.

The momentum swung Italy’s way and they notched up their second five-pointer in the 33rd minute thanks a close-range try from lock Valeria Fedrighi. Decision-making was costing Ireland, including the decision not to take the points when they were awarded a penalty, as was their indiscipline with seven penalties in the first half and 14 handling errors. Half-time couldn’t come quickly enough as they trailed 7-15 at the break.

Ireland came out with more urgency in the second half. They had a golden opportunity to score their second try in the 54th minute but Enya Breen’s skip pass to Parsons was knocked on by the Ballinasloe winger. Again, this game flipped. Minutes later, winger Alyssa D’Inca made a stunning break up the pitch and while she was pulled down by Breen it eventually resulted in Vecchini powering over for her second try of the day in what was a stunning team-try by the visitors.

Ireland kept themselves in the game with their second try of the day. This time it was their line-out maul try that reaped dividends, with Neve Jones getting over in the 62th minute for her eighth Six Nations try. Just as impressive was the excellent conversion from Dannah O’Brien.

But Italy once again showed their class with their response. After having a try chalked-off minutes earlier, winger Aura Muzzo made sure of it in the 69th minute for Italy’s fourth try of the game.

This game turned into a grandstand finish. With two minutes left, Katie Corrigan picked off a pass from Rigoni to run in and score her first international try, converted by O’Brien. In the final minute, Ireland pounded towards the Italian try-line but the visitors got a turnover at the end and that was that. Ireland left with a losing bonus point. The search for a first win since April 2022 goes on.

⁠Scorers – Ireland: N Jones, K Corrigan try, penalty try, D O’Brien con (2); Italy: V Vecchini (2) tries, V Fedrighi, A Muzzo try, B Rigoni con (2) pen

Ireland: L Delany (N Fowley 36); K Corrigan, E Higgins, E Breen (A Dalton 60), B Parsons; D O’Brien, A Reilly (M Scuffil-McCabe 60); L Djougang (N O’Dowd 76), N Jones, C Haney (S McGrath 62), D Wall (E Corri 67), S Monaghan (capt); G Moore (F Tuite 54), A Wafer, B Hogan

Italy: V Ostuni Minuzzi; A Muzzo, B Rigoni, E Stevanin (F Granzotto 73, A D’Inca; V Madia (F Granzotto 73), S Stefan (capt); S Turani (G Maris 15), V Vecchini (L Gurioli 79), S Seye (L Gai 75); V Fedrighi, G Duca; S Tounesi (I Locatelli 70), F Sgorbini (B Veronese 11), I Arrighetti (A Frangipani 76)

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)