It wasn't to be for the Irish squad this afternoon as they narrowly lost to Italy in front of a record breaking crowd in the RDS in their home opener of the 2024 Guinness Women's Six Nations.
Ireland got out of the blocks fast after the kick off with some great expansive play gaining them that all important territory. It wasn't until the 7th minute that this blast of attack reaped the reward as Ireland are given a penalty try due to a deliberate knock on by Italian full back Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi.
Ireland were in a good stride in the opening stages, their defence holding Italy out until a driving maul in the 24th minute sent Italian hooker Vittoria Vecchini right over the whitewash.
The conversion that followed was missed by outside centre Beatrice Rigoni as it clipped the cross bar. With the clock closing in on the 30th minute the scoreline now stood at 7-5 in favour of the girls in green.
Handling errors in the final few minutes of the first half put Ireland on the back foot and by the 32nd minute Italy were over for their 2nd try of the afternoon scored by Valeria Fedrighi. Rigoni made up for her previous missed kick and sent this conversion sailing right through the uprights.
An unfortunate tackle on full back Lauren Delany saw play stop at the 35th minute. As she is escorted off the pitch Nicole Fowley came on as replacement which resulted in out half Dannah O' Brien dropping to full back while Fowley took over the 10 spot.
An Italian penalty in the 36th minute was the final scoring opportunity of this half as Rigoni once again stepped up to the plate. Running into the sheds at half time the score now stood at 7-15 in favour of the Azzurri.
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Handling errors continued to haunt Ireland as the second half got under way. The weren't clinical with their territory in the Italian 22 and left a few possible scores on the field.
The 56th minute saw Vittoria Vecchini crash over for her 2nd try of the afternoon, putting further space between the sides. Rigoni followed with the conversion.
Implaccabile 😮
La doppietta di Vittoria Vecchini 🇮🇹#GuinnessW6N #IREITA @Womens6Nations @Federugby pic.twitter.com/z0Zdr7K0i9— Guinness Sei Nazioni (@SeiNazioniRugby) March 31, 2024
But Ireland did not let it faze them. With the clock ticking over 60 a driving maul, 5 metres out from the Italian try line saw Neve Jones crash over for a well deserved try. Dannah O' Brien then followed with her first conversion of the afternoon.
Play got underway once again and just 4 minutes later Italy found themselves crashing over. But thankfully for Ireland this try was disallowed due to a forward pass spotted by the TMO.
Italy however kept the pressure on and got their fourth try of the afternoon scored by winger Aura Muzzo. Beatrice Rigoni teed up yet another kick only for it to go wide. With just 10 minutes left on the clock play got underway once more. Ireland had to score if they wanted that all important losing bonus point.
Out of nowhere, with 78 minutes gone on the clock, 18 year old winger Katie Corrigan intercepted an Italian pass and touched the ball down underneath the posts. O' Brien converted it, leaving Ireland just a converted try away from victory.
😮💨 Drama right until the very end 🙌
Katie Corrigan with a late score for @IrishRugby 💪#GuinnessW6N #IREITA pic.twitter.com/g2JJRNIPmH— Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) March 31, 2024
A line out on the Italian 5 metre line got the Irish crowd going once more as the forwards secured the ball and began building momentum in their maul. The clock goes red, the maul is still moving, Scuffil-McCabe who replaced Aoibheann Reilly, moved the ball out wide as Ireland edged closer and closer to the line.
Unfortunately it was not meant to be for the Irish this afternoon as Italy managed to turn the ball over and kick it out of the park. Hollie Davidson blew the full time whistle and Ireland recorded another loss as they are beaten 21-27.
A tough day in the office for Bemand and co. Some glimpses of some great plays throughout but ultimately the 25 handling errors and the leaving behind of great opportunities to take the points left them down this afternoon.
With a losing bonus point secured Ireland now sit at 5th in table with Wales sitting just below them on equal points.
Speaking to the media after the loss Bemand said
As a group we've said we'll go for performance and we definitely haven't shied away from talking about winning. So as we are sitting here now we're pretty disappointed to not win a game. There was plenty of moments in that (game) that gave us opportunities to do that. So we'll dust ourselves down we've got some big games to come. If we're not winning we're learning.
With a weekend off ahead it is back to the drawing board for the girls in green as they prepare to take on Wales in Virgin Media Park on the 13th of April.
IRELAND: Lauren Delany, Katie Corrigan, Eve Higgins, Enya Breen, Beibhinn Parsons; Dannah O' Brien, Aoibheann Reilly; Linda Djougang, Neve Jones, Christy Haney; Dorothy Wall, Sam Monaghan; Grace Moore, Aoife Wafer; Brittany Hogan.
Subs: Sarah Delaney, Niamh O’ Dowd (76th min), Sadhbh Mcgrath (62nd min), Fiona Tuite (54th min), Eimear Corri (66th min), Molly Scuffil-Mccabe (58th min), Nicole Fowley (35th min), Aoife Dalton (58th min)
Tries: Neve Jones, Katie Corrigan
Cons: Dananh O’ Brien
Italy: Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi, Aura Muzzo, Beatrice Rigoni, Emma Stevanin, Alyss D'inca; Veronica Madia, Sofia Stefan; Silvia Turani, Vittoria Vecchini, Sara Seye; Valeria Fedrighi, Giordana Duca; Sara Tounesi, Francesca Sgorbini, Ilaria Arrighetti.
Subs: Laura Gurioli (79th min), Gaia Maris (14th min), Lucia Gai (73rd min), Isabella Locatelli (70th min), Beatrice Veronese (11th min), Alessandra Frangipani (76th min), Francesca Granzotto (73rd min), Beatrice Capomaggi.
Tries: Vittoria Vecchini, Valeria Fedrighi, Aura Muzzo
Cons: Beatrice Rigoni
Pens: Beatrice Rigoni
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