Ciara Griffin: England are on top of Carrauntoohil... Ireland are below in the car park

Ireland will get up that mountain and they will reach the top but they'll be playing catch-up for a long time.

KEEP THE FAITH: The Ireland team huddle during the Captain's Run at Musgrave PArk. Picture: INPHO/Ben Brady

The curse of Parma continues with Irish losses in 2019 and 2021 compounded with another defeat to Italy in the Six Nations last Saturday. Although both sides had a lot of unforced errors, the Italians used their experience to grind out the win. 

Both had multiple entries into the attacking 22 and equal amounts of possession, but Italy crossed the try line on three occasions compared to Ireland's one penalty try off a driving scrum. Italy’s experienced players of Rigoni, Franco and Sillari controlled the Italian attack and Ireland unfortunately didn’t have the answers.