Ireland head coach Scott Bemand will have close to a full squad to pick from for Sunday's Guinness Women's Six Nations meeting with Italy in Parma, with no major injury worries from last week’s opener against France.
As expected, wing Beibhinn Parsons and full-back Méabh Deely continue to be sidelined with injury, with both players targeting their return later in the tournament.
Bemand is expected to make at least one change to his team for Sunday’s game against the Italians, with Aoibheann Reilly in line to come into the starting team at scrum-half for Emily Lane.
But ahead of naming his matchday squad on Friday morning, the Ireland head coach is pleased with the fitness of his team after an attritional opening game against France last Saturday.
"We feel like we played a Test match but come through in reasonable health so a full squad to pick from pretty much," he said.
"We’re in good health.
"Stacey Flood came back from injury and was available for the first game, but we won’t be moving and shaking too much. We’ve a good panel, the wider squad is competing hard and people have the opportunities to break in.
"The beauty of where we have got this group to over the last 18 months is that we can now tolerate work, can now tolerate big games against some sizeable athletic opposition. And the cost to us physically is, touch wood, fairly low cost at this stage."
The Irish coach was frustrated on Saturday at how his side let a potentially famous win slip by when they gave up 10 late points to go down 27-15, having come from behind to trail 17-15 heading into the final quarter of an hour.
However, that frustration has led to encouragement over the course of this week, after seeing how his players have responded.
"We have looked at some of the performance aspects of it and we got quite a lot wrong in the game, as did France. The first game of the Six Nations and it’s our first game testing ourselves against this kind of opposition. We are coming in with higher standards for ourselves.
"So in that sense we do feel it was a missed opportunity. We got momentum coming from behind. We let them off the hook.
"As a group, we haven’t shied away from that. I love the honesty of the girls, they’re prepared to meet the challenge. They’ve been able to say 'That’s a game in six months we need to be winning.’ So it’s another layer to us," he added.
Sunday’s opponents Italy fell to a 38-5 defeat to England in their opening game in York, but held the defending champions scoreless for the majority of the second half.
Ireland haven't beaten the Italians since 2022, with their 2024 meeting at the RDS one of the more agonising Irish defeats in recent seasons, with the home side dominating the game only to lose 27-21.
"We had significant possession, more than significant territory and we’re able to execute at the pressurised end of the pitch," Bemand recalled of that defeat.
"We had some tough experiences in the WXV1 but now rather going in with doubt, we now go in with belief. We are not the finished product yet.
"What do I think of the Italians? They’re better coached than they were. They have a strong sense of purpose, cultural identity and what game they want to get out there.
"They’ve got a more structured version of themselves these days. It used to be quite fun watching them, in that anything might happen. Everybody had a left foot and a right foot and ‘we’ll all do three chips each’. Now they’re got a little more, not pragmatic, but personal and sensible with what they’re trying to do.
"So we’re expecting a strong box-kicking game. They’re going to box-kick to us so how many box-kicking structures do we normally face? We’ve been preparing for that and if we get that right, it’s a source of possession and in the right area of the pitch.
"I’m expecting an incredible challenge from the Italians. Historically, we’ve always had a good battle with them. Our aim is to get our best game out there and if we do we’ll be alright but certainly the Italians won’t make it easy for us."
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