Women’s Six Nations: Italy climb to third with bonus-point win despite late comeback from Ireland

Despite a strong start and finish, Ireland came away with just a single bonus point after a defeat to Italy in Dublin, where a record attendance for a Woman's Six Nations match packed in at the RDS.

Ireland brought the fight to the Italians in the opening 10 minutes, forcing a penalty try as full-back Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi stopped a near-certain Ireland try by swatting the ball away with one hand.

It took almost 20 minutes for the visitors to bite back with a try in the 25th. After a series of penalties that piled the pressure on Ireland, Italy hooker Vittoria Vecchini settled herself at the back of a powerful maul to drive over from close range.

The momentum from Ireland’s dominant start had been shredded by now, as Italy scored a second try and a penalty in the following 10 minutes. Beibhinn Parsons dropped a basic high ball that gave Italy an easy route to the Irish 22. A slew of powerful carries followed and second-row Valeria Fedrighi touched down under the posts from close range.

Ireland hit back almost immediately, however, mauling their way to Italy’s line for Neve Jones to score. Dannah O'Brien added a terrific conversion from the touchline to cut the lead down to eight.

After having a try disallowed, Italy scored their fourth of the day with just over 10 minutes left on the clock as this time Aura Muzzo touched down in the corner.

Ireland’s fire wasn’t extinguished just yet though, pushing Italy hard in the closing exchanges before scoring their third as 18-year-old Katie Corrigan intercepted a loose pass from Beatrice Burgoni to run in.

A winner looked in their sights as they camped on Italy’s line, but the visitors forced a turnover and sealed a bonus-point victory.

"We're pretty disappointed, we had plenty of possession and plenty of territory but we just lacked that clinical accuracy when it really mattered," said Ireland head coach Scott Bemand.

"The first couple of tries they were given entries into our half through double penalties. Italy are a good team, I think we put more than enough out there to score more points than we did and we have to get used to being under pressure and take our chances when we earn them.

"We want to show the people of Ireland that we are here to fire shots. The game hasn't gone the way we want it to do, but we have fired shots and we'll get better at that.

"We have things in our control that we can improve, such as the discipline, handling errors and the breakdown."

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media