IRELAND turned around their scrum horror show in France to power to a first win in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations over Italy.
A week on from being marched backwards over and over in Toulouse, Ireland got a form of revenge as they dominated Italy in a convincing 29-8 success.
The first win of the campaign came after the side worked on the scrum with training sessions against a men’s Under-20s team under the tutelage of Ireland men’s scrum coach John Fogarty.
It paid off as Ireland got on top and dealt with the conditions better against an Italy team forced into a late reshuffle because of a Covid outbreak that saw three starters drop out on Saturday.
For Ireland skipper Nichola Fryday, it was a first win since taking over the captaincy.
She said: “We took a hard look at our set-piece and said it needed to have a big improvement and it did, it went really well.
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“I’m immensely proud of the girls and the work they did on the pitch.
“The control of that game was so much improved from previous games.
“We had a tough wind against us in the first half so it was about playing smarter rugby. That’s what the girls did.
“It’s been a tough two weeks but I always knew the girls had the talent within themselves to get this performance.”
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Italy actually took an early lead through a Beatrice Rigoni penalty, but Ireland struck back with tries from Lucy Mulhall and Neve Jones to lead 10-3 at half-time.
Eve Higgins notched the pick of the tries early in the second half, collecting a clever chip kick before the penalty try from a dominant scrum.
Although Italy did hit back through Melissa Bettoni, Katie O’Dwyer ensured Ireland had the final say.
The TikTok Women’s Six Nations is more accessible than ever before. To find out how you can watch the Women’s Championship visit: womens.sixnationsrugby.com/tv/
