FIXTURE
Sunday 31 March
Ireland v Italy, RDS Arena, 3pm.
ONLINE
Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
TV
Watch Ireland v Italy in the Guinness Women's Six Nations on Sunday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
Scotland v France (Saturday, 2.15pm) is also live on RTÉ Player. England v Wales in on Virgin Media Two from 5.30pm this afternoon.
WEATHER
Quite cloudy with continued showers, turning heavy in some places. Milder with highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in light to moderate southeasterly winds.
For more, visit met.ie.
Green shoots of recovery
While it's hard to be overly positive about a defeat, the performance of Ireland in their Six Nations opener against France pointed to a team in bounce-back mode.
The annus horribilis of 2023, when a final day defeat in Scotland secured the wooden spoon, has been put firmly in the rearview mirror first with the WXV3 win last October before some real defensive solidity in the 38-17 loss in Le Mans.
For 30 minutes, the side showed real resolve under new head coach Scott Bemand.
The concession of a third-minute try to Pauline Bourdon Sansus pointed to a potential hammering, but with half an hour on the clock it was 10-3 on the scoreboard.
Time and time again France tried to make gains but the Irish cover had real width and the decision to kick constantly – perhaps too eagerly on occasion with Nicole Fowley taking that option 19 times – pushed the hosts back.
The fact that France needed to dig deep for something special to find a way to finish spoke volumes, and for a number of tries it was the genius of scrum-half Pauline Bourdon Sansus that eventually caught Ireland out.
Bemand would have been pleased that they "fired some shots", as he had asked for pre-game, with Aoife Waffer and Aoife Dalton going over, but there’s plenty to work on.
Their inability to isolate Béibhinn Parsons on a wing offering plenty of space was frustrating, while the aforementioned decision to kick first meant that their running game never really caused Les Bleues serious problems in the crux of the fixture.
Overall though, a good start that offers promise of more.
The Italian job
While the France fixture always carried the whiff of performance first, result second, it’s the complete opposite at the RDS.
You have to go back to 22 April, 2022 for Ireland’s last win in the competition – a 15-14 win over Scotland in Belfast - and despite last year’s loss in Parma, they’ll be out to extend their impressive record against the Italians.
This will be the 24th meeting between the sides and Ireland are chasing win number 20.
With 19 carries, Sam Monaghan was one of the bright sparks in last year’s 24-7 loss to Italy, and the news that she’s set to return for this is a massive boost.
The visitors arrive in Dublin with a growing reputation and while Ireland were winning WXV3 before the end of the year, Italy were missing out on the WXV2 title to Scotland on scoring difference after wins over Japan, South Africa and the US. Aura Muzzo led the way with three tries and Alyssa D'Incà and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi grabbed a brace each.
All three were in the starting line-up for last week’s opener with England, but their attacking threat was completely blunted as the visitors won 48-0 despite Sarah Beckett picking up a bunker-reviewed red card early in the first half.
Some of Italy’s baseline stats were OK. They won 85% of their line-outs and 78.6% of their scrums but the concession of 10 penalties was a bit on the high side. Like Ireland, they’ll be aiming for a big improvement in Round 2.
TEAMS
Ireland: Lauren Delany; Katie Corrigan, Eve Higgins, Enya Breen, Béibhinn Parsons; Dannah O'Brien, Aoibheann Reilly; Linda Djougang, Neve Jones, Christy Haney; Dorothy Wall, Sam Monaghan (capt); Grace Moore, Aoife Wafer, Brittany Hogan.
Replacements: Sarah Delaney, Niamh O'Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath, Fiona Tuite, Eimear Corri, Molly Scuffil-McCabe, Nicole Fowley, Aoife Dalton.
Italy: Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi; Aura Muzzo, Beatrice Rigoni, Emma Stevanin, Alyssa D'Inca; Veronica Madia, Sofia Stefan; Silvia Turani, Vittoria Vecchini, Sara Seye; Valeria Fedrighi, Giorana Duca; Sara Tounesi, Francesca Sgorbini, Ilaria Arrighetti.
Replacements: Laura Gurioli, Gaia Maris, Lucia Gai, Isabella Locatelli, Beatrice Veronese, Alessandra Frangipani, Francesca Granzotto, Beatrice Capomaggi.
OFFICIALS
Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)
Assistant Referee 1: Maria Heitor (FPR)
Assistant Referee 2: Amber Stamp-Dunstan (WRU)
TMO: Chris Assmus (RC)
RECENT SIX NATIONS MEETINGS
2023: Italy-24-7 Ireland, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi
2022: Ireland 29-8 Italy, Musgrave Park
2021: Ireland 25-5 Italy, Donnybrook Stadium (3rd/4th place play-off)
2020: Ireland 27-7, Donnybrook Stadium
2019: Italy 29-27 Ireland, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi
Watch Ireland v Italy in the Women's Six Nations on Sunday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Scotland v France in the Women's Six Nations on Saturday from 2.05pm on RTÉ Player
Watch Munster v Cardiff in the URC on Saturday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
