Careless Ireland fall agonisingly short in front of record crowd

Ireland were just two metres from the try line again, with the clock in the red, when they lost the ball and their last hope.

CRUSHING DEFEAT: Ireland come up short in front of a record home crowd against Italy in the RDS. Pic: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Guinness Women's Six Nations

Ireland 21 Italy 27 

A record crowd of 6,605 for an Irish women’s game on home soil but no win to cap it. Italy earned their bonus-point victory but Scott Bemand’s side will rue a litany of errors after a blistering start.

The hosts racked up 27 handling errors and, if their tackle numbers and discipline weren’t bad, then they will know that they let the Italians in far too easily for some of their scores. Ultimately, this was one they let slip away, time and time again.

Ireland could have stolen it at the death. Down 27-14 with mere minutes to go, Katie Corrigan’s converted intercept try injected new hope. The hosts were just two metres from the try line again, with the clock in the red, when they lost the ball and their last hope.

Crushing.

This was a seventh successive Six Nations defeat and it leaves them not just dejected but on the back foot in the race to finish in the top three, a position which will deliver a place at next year’s World Cup at the first time of asking.

Ireland began brilliantly. So impressive for long spells in defence last week, their attack was sublime out of the blocks. Aoife Wafer was storming through the middle, Beibhinn Parsons was operating as a wrecking ball on the wing.

Italy were badly stretched and it caused full-back Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi to concede a deliberate knock-on which cost her a yellow card and, with Parsons lurking unmarked and wide in the 22, a penalty try with it.

Here was the chance to really turn a screw. The visitors lost two forwards to injury inside a first quarter in which Ireland enjoyed 78% possession and 85% territory and yet Bemand’s side conspired to let slip all that momentum and higher ground.

Execution levels plummeted and the attacking shape went to pot. Ostuni Minuzzi was barely back on when Italy scored off their first real attack after 25 minutes, Vittoria Vecchini ploughing over after a lineout maul and some punchy phases.

Beatrice Rigoni’s conversion bounced back off the crossbar but any sense of Ireland getting off lightly wasn’t long in lasting and they had only themselves to blame after a punishing series of mistakes at the other end.

First Dannah O’Brien spurned a straightforward three points for a kick that failed to find touch, then they conceded a silly penalty to allow Italy an out. Parsons dropping a simple high ball continued the trend and it ended with Valeria Fedrighi going over soon after.

Two attacks, two tries. Great for Italy, awful for Ireland.

Worse again followed when full-back Lauren Delany ran a long kick back across her 22 and gave up a penalty under the posts. Rigoni popped the three over but only after Delany was carted off, Nicole Fowley coming in to ten and O’Brien shifting to 15.

Down 15-7 at the break, Ireland had the perfect chance to cut the gap from the off when No.8 Ilaria Arrighetti kicked a clearance bizarrely and laterally across her 22 to Neve Jones but the hosts still couldn’t convert with an overlap wide on the right.

Worse followed two minutes later when Parsons dropped a simple pass with the line undefended just a handful of metres in front of her and the net cost of all this profligacy was multiplied in the blink of an eye.

Alyssa D’Inca was the springboard for it, the Italian winger zigzagging mesmerically from one 22 to the next before Vecchini bludgeoned over on the back of it. It looked like a killer blow with just over one quarter to go but Ireland rallied.

A try from Jones, from a lineout maul, was the most straightforward way to score given the mountain of handling errors committed through the afternoon, while O’Brien landed a brilliant conversion from the touchline to leave eight points in it.

The respite was brief.

Italy had a try from winger Auro Muzzo ruled out for a forward pass just three minutes later but the same player touched down again shortly after and there was no TMO to scratch an effort that appeared to make the game safe.

It was, just, Ireland’s belated flurry falling agonisingly short.

Ireland: L Delany; K Corrigan, E Higgins, E Breen, B Parsons; D O’Brien, A Reilly; L Djougang, N Jones, C Haney; D Wall, S Monaghan; G Moore, A Wafer, B Hogan.

Replacements: N Fowley for Delany (37); F Tuite for Moore (55); A Dalton for Breen and M Scuffil-McCabe for Reilly (60); S McGrath for Haney (64); E Corri for Wall (67); N O’Dowd for Djougang (77).

S Delaney, N O’Dowd, S McGrath, F Tuite, E Corri, M Scuffil-McCabe, N Fowley, A Dalton.

Italy: V Ostuni Minuzzi; A Muzzo, B Rigoni, E Stevanin, A D’Inca; V Madia, S Stefan; S Rurani, V Vecchini, E Seye; V Federighi, G Duca; S Tounesi, F Sgorbini, I Arrighetti.

Replacements: B Veronese for Sgorbini (12); G Maris for Turani (15); I Locatelli for Tounesi and L Gai for Seye (both 70); F Granzotto for Madia (77); A Frangipaini for Arrighetti (77); L Gurioli for Vecchini (80).

Referee: H Davidson (Sco).