Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe stars as Ireland secure third place in Six Nations

Ireland's Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe celebrates after scoring a try with teammates. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Ireland 25 Italy 5

Winger Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe ran in her first two Ireland tries as Adam Griggs’ side finished their Six Nations campaign with a convincing victory over Italy at Donnybrook.

Murphy-Crowe’s double was added to by Dorothy Wall and Cliodhna Moloney, while out-half Stacey Flood delivered an impressive performance in her maiden start in the ten shirt.

Played in brilliant sun shine at Donnybrook, Ireland looked a much improved outfit from last week’s heavy loss to France, and an excellent jackal penalty won by Brittany Hogan – in for the dropped Claire Molloy – set them up in Italian territory. A couple of penalties later Flood’s quickly taken penalty send Wall over in the corner for a 5-0 lead after nine minutes.

A nasty clash of heads with Elisa Giordano saw Ireland captain Ciara Griffin forced off with a head injury after 13 minutes – she didn’t return to the action – but her replacement Hannah O’Connor impressed at the back of the scrum.

While the start was bright, Ireland’s standards in attack slipped away. They were guilty of conceding front-foot penalties, while the loss of Sene Naoupu to the sin bin in the 21st minute for a high tackle was a setback – only the dipping ball carrier saw her escape red.

Cliodhna Moloney of Ireland on her way to scoring her side's third try. Picture: Matt Browne/Sportsfile

Flood was the real bright spark for Ireland. She kicked very well deep into Italian half, which gave Ireland the territorial dominance they needed, while her second jackal penalty victory in the 28th minute allowed her to kick her side 8-0 clear, which they maintained until the half time interval.

On the resumption, Ireland regained control again. Their second try arrived four minutes after the break when Murphy Crowe was sent through a hole by Wall, and the winger produced a beautiful mazy run before touching down. Flood’s conversion made it 15-0.

The intention to play quickly reaped benefits for Ireland in the first half, while their third try came for another quick-tap penalty after 51 minutes when Moloney tapped and powered through the tacklers to score.

Italy came close to scoring after they won three penalties from scrums in the space of two minutes, but after kicking to the corner and mauling, replacement Leah Lyons produced a great tackle in defence to hold up Melissa Bettoni.

Ireland’s Beibhinn Parsons and Michela Sillari of Italy. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Eleven minutes from time Bettoni did cross from close range for Italy’s first points, but with the handling errors mounting there was no chance of closing the gap, while Murphy-Crowe ran in her second try four minutes into added time.

Scorers for Ireland: tries, D Wall, A-L Murphy Crowe 2, C Moloney; con, S Flood; pen, S Flood.

Scorers for Italy: try, M Bettoni.

IRELAND: E Considine; A-L Murphy Crowe, E Higgins, S Naoupu, B Parsons; S Flood, K Dane; L Peat, C Moloney, L Djougang; A McDermott, N Fryday; D Wall, B Hogan, C Griffin.

Replacements: H O’Connor for Griffin 13 mins, HIA; H Tyrrell for Parsons 61; G Moore for McDermott 64; E Lane for Dane 64; N Jones for Moloney 64; L Feely for Peat 64; L Lyons for Djougang 64; E Breen for Higgins 73; Higgins for Moloney 80, blood.

ITALY: V Ostuni Minuzzi; M Furlan, M Sillari, B Rigoni, M Magatti; V Madia, S Barattin; E Skofca, M Bettoni, L Gai; V Fedrighi, G Duca; I Arrighetti, F Sgorbini, E Giordano.

Replacements: S Stefan for Barattin 49 mins; G Maris for Skofca 64; S Tounesi for Fedrighi 64; A Muzzo for Ostuni Minuzzi 73; L Cammarano for Sgorbini 74.

Referee: Sara Cox (RFU).