Richard Bullick
IRELAND women will go into the Clermont cauldron on Saturday night on a high as they seek a first ever away win against France (8.10pm, BBC Two) on the back of running up their record score against Italy in a comprehensive 57-20 victory in Galway last weekend.
Home favourite Beibhinn Parsons completed a fairytale first half hat-trick by rounding off a glorious team move as Ireland romped to a barely believable 45-10 interval lead before bringing up their half-century in the first few minutes of the second period.
There was a carnival atmosphere at Dexcom Stadium, where a well-entertained record crowd of 9206 watched with delight as Erin King’s Green Wave swept away the visitors with a superlative performance in glorious sunshine.
Italy had recorded a deserved victory in Dublin’s RDS on their last trip to Ireland two years ago but never looked like repeating that triumph out west, though their spirited second half fightback did secure the visitors a four-try bonus-point.
Sparkling prospect Robyn O’Connor marked a dream debut by scoring one of Ireland’s nine tries and the new cap’s fellow Wexford woman Aoife Wafer also touched down on an afternoon when she really made her presence count.
Wafer was an untypically peripheral figure in Ireland’s Six Nations opener at Twickenham the previous Saturday as they lost 33-12 to world champions England, but the 2025 Six Nations Player of the Championship certainly imposed herself here.
With the win in the bag, Scott Bemand had the luxury of withdrawing Wafer with just under half an hour remaining along with Ireland Player of the Year Aoife Dalton, who was brought off for just the second time in a competitive match since 2024, and four others.
Bemand revealed Wafer had been cramping up a bit, while Dalton – who was on the field for every minute of last spring’s Six Nations – had light strapping on her thigh after the game but thankfully Ireland sustained no new injuries ahead of this weekend’s French fixture.
First-choice scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly, cruelly denied the chance to play in Connacht’s home stadium alongside her childhood friend from Ballinasloe, Parsons, by injury, will have to wait until at least next month’s Belfast fixture with Wales to return to international action.
However, Emily Lane had what felt like her best game in green against Italy last weekend as she scored the opening try and prospered with the fast, front-foot ball provided by Ireland’s powerful pack who outweighed their opponents for a second match running.
Boss Bemand has made only one change to his starting line-up for the French clash, Dorothy Wall replacing Ruth Campbell as the engineroom partner of Ulster’s Fiona Tuite, whose provincial colleague Sadhbh McGrath loses out to Eilis Cahill for a bench berth.
That sole change to the matchday squad sees Ireland revert to the same 13 forwards who were on duty for that 21-point defeat to World Cup winners England at Twickenham when the gargantuan Cahill won her first cap as a replacement.
Young O’Connor keeps her place on the left wing after impressing on debut against Italy and Nancy McGillivray did enough on her first Six Nations start to again get the nod over the established Eve Higgins as Dalton’s centre partner.
The rematch of last September’s epic World Cup quarter-final has been circled on Ireland’s calendar since that agonising defeat, and the dominant display against Italy meant the player workload could be spread, with Bemand using most of his bench earlier than usual.
The entire front row of the legendary Linda Djougang and try-scorers Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Ellena Perry was replaced at the same time as Wafer and Dalton along with lock Campbell as Bemand made six substitutions at once on 53 minutes.
Those wholesale changes didn’t feel likely to offer much respite for the besieged Italians considering Ireland had a stacked bench which would have been seen as a trump card for the hosts in a tighter game.
The five forward replacements who came on together were recent co-captain Sam Monaghan, the formidable Wall and regular front row starters Niamh O’Dowd and Neve Jones along with the latter’s fellow Ulsterwoman McGrath.
Higgins took over from her Wolfhounds captain Dalton, so McGillivray got 80 minutes, while O’Connor – who passed her head injury assessment – came off soon afterwards for Anna McGann and Katie Whelan later replaced Lane at scrumhalf in the final change.
In the event, the girls in green scored just one more try after the mass substitutions, though that was at least in part due to an improved performance from Italy who now had the breeze behind them in the second half.
Italy had put it up to France in the opening period the previous Saturday before falling away to lose 40-7 but this was their second consecutive 50-point pasting from Ireland, who had three tries from their right winger on both occasions.
Last time that had been McGann in Ireland’s 54-12 record rout of Italy in Parma, when Dalton picked up Player of the Match for her all-round display, but here it was Galway girl Parsons who was both the hat-trick hero and also the individual award winner.
Scrumhalf Lane had got the party started with the opening try of an evening when the announcement of every player’s name ahead of the match had been accompanied by a burst of flames, and Ireland were on fire from early on, scoring after just five minutes.
The compact O’Connor had a strong carry wide on the left with her first touch in international rugby after Dalton had taken Ireland into the opposition 22 and, when the hosts were awarded a penalty, Lane went quickly and scored with Dannah O’Brien adding the extras.
That was the first of several superb place-kicks by the young Carlow woman, who finished with a 12-point haul, but she also ran the show well, pulling the strings superbly from outhalf in orchestrating Ireland’s attacking game.
Dalton did very well to hold up an Italian ball-carrier over the Ireland line but the visitors had a penalty advantage and hooker Vettoria Vecchini touched down at the back of a dominant maul for an unconverted try after they went into the left corner.
But Ireland responded in kind three minutes later, the pack surging over from a lineout won by skipper King in the right corner with Wafer fittingly the scorer given that it was the No 8’s big break off the back of a scrum that had established the field position.
One of those trademark killer passes by fullback Stacey Flood, with the Australian referee playing advantage, put Parsons over for her first try in the right corner late in the first quarter and newcomer O’Connor secured Ireland’s bonus-point in only the 23rd minute.
It was a confident finish from Wexford firecracker O’Connor, who was put into space by a long pass from her role model and mentor Dalton on the 22, backed her pace to go on the outside and grounded despite a despairing double hit as she dived for the line.
O’Connor was mobbed by her delighted team-mates as the crowd went wild and it was a heart-warming moment never to be forgotten for this infectiously enthusiastic 20-year-old just 10 days after her grandfather’s funeral.
The talented youngster had been handed her chance to shine on the left wing in place of Vicky Elmes-Kinlan despite the Olympian’s impressive performance in the England game as Bemand actively tries to build depth within his squad.
O’Brien couldn’t convert from the left touchline, her first miss in four attempts, but she nailed a brilliant effort from the same spot before the break to embellish Ireland’s best try of the afternoon, though they had scored two more in between.
The two Aoifes, who each scored tries aged just 20 on Ireland’s last visit to France when they finished with a defiant flourish in Le Mans two years ago, combined clinically – Dalton making a big tackle and Wafer getting in to win a follow-up penalty.
A Moloney-MacDonald lineout throw went over the tail but Italy were penalised after that savage tackle by Dalton, Wafer was launched off Tuite’s lineout take and O’Connor nearly had her second try in three minutes from O’Brien’s cross-kick into the in-goal area.
The Italian drop-out went into touch on the full, King opted for another scrum after Ireland were awarded a penalty on the 22, Wafer fooled the defence by breaking right as the backs shuffled left and Lane fed Parsons, who went on the outside to score again in the corner.
Ireland had 31 points on the board with just half an hour gone and the short-of-stature O’Connor climbed highest to take the opposition restart but Italy hit back with a try of their own off O’Brien’s long clearance.
That was a brilliant individual effort from fullback Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi who danced through traffic before rounding O’Brien, though the conversion attempt was awful from the right wing on an evening when Italy failed to bisect the Irish posts even once.
The green machine responded with a touchdown of their own by loosehead prop Perry after another rampage from Wafer following Moloney-MacDonald running onto an Italian lineout throw which went astray.
Then came that magic just before the break as Ireland attacked down the left with some exhilarating interplay which culminated in the hat-trick try for Parsons, a sublime conversion by O’Brien and a deserved standing ovation as the players left the field for half-time.
The build-up began with the industrious Dalton getting in Italy’s faces as they tried to claw something back before the break and forcing a knock-on which led to an Irish scrum wide on the right on their own 10-metre line.
Lane’s long pass hit McGillivray in midfield and, although she threw the ball out loosely as Dalton ran one of her trademark decoys, O’Brien had the composure to take it on the – fortunately true – bounce rather than snatching at it.
A deliberate knock-on by Italy then prevented a pass from Parsons – off her wing looking for work – from finding Flood, but the alert O’Connor scooped up possession and there were strong carries in-field from Campbell and Ulsterwoman Brittany Hogan.
Hogan slipped the ball deftly to the rampaging Perry on her shoulder before Lane switched the attack back left and O’Brien deceived Italy by shaping to kick but instead fed Flood who found O’Connor on the outside with a skip-pass.
The gifted youngster showed her deceptive physical strength and characteristic confidence on debut by keeping the ball alive with a well-timed offload back inside to Parsons, who deftly flipped it on to Flood.
The classy fullback is such a creative force for Ireland and she whipped the ball on to a barnstorming Wafer for the Wexford woman to stampede into the visiting 22 and pump her legs in contact before freeing Parsons to race clear for an unforgettable try. Stunning stuff.
It was fascinating to note that most metrics for that first half were relatively even, with Italy even shading Ireland on some counts, but the only stat that really mattered was the scoreboard and it showed a 35-point interval lead for the hosts.
The Irish half-century came up just over two minutes into the second half courtesy of an unconverted try by Galway woman Moloney-MacDonald, the Exeter Chiefs hooker from Tuam who had won her 50th cap at Twickenham seven days earlier.
Italy had given away a penalty as they tried to deal with O’Brien’s hanging restart, Ireland launched Dalton off the subsequent lineout and the forwards hammered away at the line until Moloney-MacDonald got over.
The visitors did reply with an unconverted try by impressive replacement outhalf Veronica Madia with half an hour remaining shortly before Bemand turned to his formidable bench by making those half dozen substitutions in one go.
Along with winner Parsons and the eye-catching Italian fullback, both Wafer and Dalton – whose last contribution was another fierce tackle which caused an opposition knock-on – were among the four official contenders for Player of the Match despite leaving so early.
But this was an evening when there was no shortage of Irish heroes worthy of commendation, from the influential Flood at fullback to former England prop Perry, who has been such a valuable addition since being brought in ahead of last summer’s World Cup.
Despite some monstrous carries by the unleashed Wall and Higgins looking lively, there was a prolonged period of scoreless stalemate and, to their credit, Italy not only remained up for the fight but kept possession through multiple phases and played some decent rugby.
Parsons lit up the Dexcom with a blistering break through the middle from deep in her own half early in the final quarter and fellow Connacht player McGann cut inside off a long pass from Flood to get to within four metres of the tryline.
Wall was brought down inches short and Ireland were held up, with the relative famine not ending until Hogan – now playing No 8 in Wafer’s absence with Tuite at blindside – garnished another industrious display by touching down, with O’Brien converting.
The Fields of Athenry had rung out around the stadium shortly before Hogan’s try – something this side first experienced during last September’s World Cup clash with New Zealand in Brighton – on an evening the team and crowd really fed off each other.
That ninth try meant Ireland surpassed their record score against Italy posted in Parma last spring and matched the margin from that occasion, but the latter was reduced as the visitors had the last word with their fourth try near the end by Alyssa D’Inca.
What was a 15th Test try for D’Inca secured the bonus-point for Italy as Ireland ran out of numbers out wide in the 78th minute but the star three-quarter, who has previously played wing, had got little change out of Dalton during that formative first half.
After tough fixtures against France and Ireland, the Italians will be targeting a first victory of the campaign this Saturday against a Scotland team desperate to bounce back from that 84-7 thrashing by England in front of a record crowd at Murrayfield.
The Red Roses were rampant in Edinburgh despite having lost another couple of players to injury from their game against Ireland, whose London defeat was certainly put in perspective by that score England ran up away to the Scots.
In the other round two fixture, Wales were beaten 38-7 in Cardiff by France, who as against Italy in the opening game weren’t able to open up a substantial lead until the second half of the contest.
Ireland have undeniably been bullish ahead of this trip to Clermont, and there are grounds for cautious optimism as well as massive motivation for King’s girls in green, who not only want to avenge that World Cup defeat but take another huge step forward as a team.
However, the scale of the task – in front of a hostile crowd in a real rugby hotbed – can’t be underestimated though as the French haven’t lost at home to any of the celtic cousins since 2003 and only been beaten by Ireland three times ever.
The French are building towards what they hope will be another Grand Slam showdown with England next month but Bemand’s women want to rip up that script by taking a huge scalp at the famous Stade Marcel-Michelin, a place not for the faint-hearted.
IRELAND (v Italy): Stacey Flood; Beibhinn Parsons, Aoife Dalton (Eve Higgins, 53), Nancy McGillivray, Robyn O’Connor (Anna McGann, 56); Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane (Katie Whelan, 67); Ellena Perry (Niamh O’Dowd, 53), Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald (Neve Jones, 53), Linda Djougang (Sadhbh McGrath, 53), Ruth Campbell (Sam Monaghan, 53), Fiona Tuite, Brittany Hogan, Erin King (capt), Aoife Wafer (Dorothy Wall, 53).
