BY RICHARD BULLICK
TOWERING three-quarter Anna McGann’s hat-trick score against Italy in Parma has been voted the Try of the Round in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, with the 27-year-old Athlone native also being one of two Irish representatives to make the Team of the Round.
With the clock red, the 5’11” converted winger raced clear down the right to finish off a brilliant team try which brought up Ireland’s half-century of points in their 54-12 record rout of Italy the Sunday before last.
McGann had also touched down twice in the opening period as Scott Bemand’s side secured a bonus-point before half-time in laying the foundations for a first away win in the Six Nations since 2021.
She strode home for her first following a break by centre Eve Higgins and delivered a sharp finish in the corner later in the half after good hands by fullback Stacey Flood, with Aoife Dalton’s decoy run helping unlock the Italian defence.
But McGann’s third was the best of the lot and it attracted 36 percent of the votes, beating the other shortlisted tries by France’s Teani Feleu (27 percent) and the England duo of Meg Jones (24 percent) and Abby Dow (13 percent).
When pressure from replacement forwards Dorothy Wall and Siobhan McCarthy forced an Italian turnover near halfway wide on the left with time already, it might have been tempting to kick the ball out and trigger the final whistle with a comprehensive victory in the bag.
But Ireland decided to have one last cut and their ambition was rewarded with a glorious try as Emily Lane fed fellow replacement back Enya Breen, who linked with skipper Edel McMahon before a flat pass from Flood freed Cliodhna Moloney.
The Exeter Chiefs hooker had support from another front row replacement Christy Haney and the veteran tighthead prop showed dynamism and great hands with a glorious offload to outhalf Dannah O’Brien.
Wing Anna McGann’s hat-trick score against Italy was voted Six Nations Try of the Round
Confident from having landed six of her first seven conversions, O’Brien ran purposefully at the Italian defence before releasing the long-striding McGann just under 40 metres out and the opposition never looked like catching her.
Scoring a hat-trick was a wonderful feeling for McGann, who hadn’t crossed the whitewash in her previous seven Tests, though she was quick to share the credit with those inside her who had laid on the opportunities.
“To be fair, I only dotted down the ball, the girls did all the hard work with those ones but, yeah, they’re full team tries and it was just class to be part of it,” she told Irish Rugby TV afterwards.
“It was such a team performance from the very start to the finish. I think we showed real resilience at times, especially just at the end of the first half keeping them out from our tryline for about five minutes.
“It’s just an unbelievable feeling to rewrite the past here in Parma and it’s a new era for us,” declared McGann, a reference to the heartbreak Ireland suffered in the Italian city in the autumn of 2021 when failing to qualify for the following year’s World Cup.
Defeats to Spain and Scotland either side of a victory over the hosts proved very costly and McGann was part of the Irish squad beaten by Italy in the same stadium during their 2023 Six Nations whitewash.
Drafted in from the sevens programme when Breen got injured, McGann and county Armagh native Vicky Irwin alternated as the centre partners for the then teenage Dalton for the rest of that tournament, with two starts apiece.
Ireland have been on an upward curve over the past 18 months or so since Bemand’s appointment as head coach but McGann herself has had a lot to deal with, including a lengthy lay-off with injury and the loss of her father to cancer.
She didn’t return to action in time to make last summer’s Paris Olympics and Bemand has recently revealed that a tentative plan to bring her to Vancouver in September as part of his squad for the WXV1 tournament were also abandoned due to the exercising of caution.
But McGann got back on the field for the Irish sevens side at the start of this season’s World Series in Dubai and Cape Town before being rerouted to the Celtic Challenge and having a run of games alongside Breen in midfield for Clovers.
With Bemand calling the shots, McGann’s athletic ability was deployed out wide for Clovers in the later stages of the Celtic Challenge and the hat-trick away to Edinburgh helped her finish as the competition’s joint-highest Irish try-scorer with nine touchdowns.
Ireland have three excellent centres in Higgins, Dalton and Breen, but being able to cover wing was seen as another string to McGann’s bow which might help her make the World Cup squad later this year or possibly secure a bench berth in the Six Nations.
However, when the team was named to face France in the opening game, McGann got the nod for the No 14 jersey ahead of the other joint-highest Irish try-scorer in this season’s Celtic Challenge, Katie Corrigan of Wolfhounds.
Having scored a try in each of Ireland’s three home matches in last spring’s Six Nations when aged just 18, Corrigan was probably favourite for a starting spot on the wing along with Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe in the absence of the injured Beibhinn Parsons.
Vicky Elmes Kinlan won her first cap against Australia last September in the No 14 jersey while yet another sevens player Amy Larn has shone in the back three for Wolfhounds in the Celtic Challenge, but Bemand went with McGann at the outset of the Six Nations.
It meant Ireland have effectively five recognised centres among their nine backs in a matchday squad which featured a 6:2 split, with Higgins and Dalton starting in midfield, McGann on the right wing, Flood in the No 15 jersey and Breen on the bench.
But just like the visionary switch of Flood to fullback, Bemand appears to have made an excellent call in utilising McGann on the wing and it will be interesting to see what happens when Parsons is available again, possibly before the end of the Six Nations.
McGann looked dangerous enough against France with limited opportunities before starring in the Italian job and, even at this stage, she looks like a banker for the World Cup squad despite having just come back into the equation quite recently.
She and Dalton, who won Player of the Match against Italy, were the two Irishwomen to make the official Team of the Round, selected by former England prop Shaunagh Brown, alongside six French, five English and two Scots.
Although naturally delighted to be playing, Anna shared the group’s feeling of frustration after a realistic chance to take the scalp of France had been let slip and likewise was much happier with the clinical nature of Ireland’s performance against Italy.
“We were very frustrated after France for there were multiple times where we could have executed and gotten scores and we didn’t. So that was a real focus for us this week and I think you could see out there that our execution was a lot higher than it was.
“There are still things that we want to fix, and we will, going towards the next game, but all in all we’re quite happy with that performance,” said McGann, who is enjoying the chance to wear the green jersey again and appreciating being back in action after her injury woes.
“Yeah it’s been class, obviously I was gutted to miss out on WXV1 but thanks to the work of our strength and conditioning coaches, Lorna and Ed, and all the physios and the staff – they got me back onto the pitch and back fighting to be fit and strong the way I am now.”
After each of her tries against Italy, Anna kissed the taping on her wrist which had ‘Dad’ written on it in a poignant tribute to her late father Mick, who passed away in August 2023 after a long and defiant fight against cancer.
McGann, who started her own jewellery business while out injured, is doing her dad proud and there should be much more to come from her, hopefully starting this Saturday when the world’s best team England come to Cork.
“We’re really excited, we love home games, especially in Virgin Media Park. They usually bring out a really good crowd, so we’re really excited to go into that,” enthused McGann, who featured in the 48-0 defeat at the same venue on England’s last visit two years ago.
“We still have things to work on, like I said, but I think we’re heading in the right direction and if we keep up the execution and the resilience that we brought out today, I think we’ll be pretty good,” she insisted.
England’s established back three of 2024 World Player of the Year Ellie Kildunne, Abby Dow and Jess Breach were restored for the 67-12 thrashing of Wales in Cardiff last time out after an alternative trio started in the opening game against Italy.
That combination of Emma Sing, Mia Venner and Claudia MacDonald looks lethal too, underlining the embarrassment of riches available to England gaffer John Mitchell and Ireland know about their cutting edge after last April’s 88-10 Twickenham trouncing.
But this improving Irish side is really relishing each challenge which comes their way and, alongside dealing with the multiple threats posed by hot favourites England, Bemand’s women will want to fire their own shots this weekend.
