LAST UPDATE | 23 Apr 2021
ITALY, LIKE IRELAND, are a team with plenty of potential and a genuine desire to bridge the gap between themselves and the Six Nations’ dominant powerhouses, England and France.
Despite their amateur status, they’ve previously suggested they might be able to do just that. In 2019, the last time the Women’s Six Nations was played off in its usual, undisrupted format, they finished second to England in the table, although their 55-0 loss to the champions is probably a more accurate reflection of where they stood.
The hope generated by that campaign was quickly drained during last year’s championship. Italy played four times, losing on three occasions, but the challenges of the pandemic left an asterisk beside every team’s return in 2020.
Like Ireland, they will have viewed this season as a clean slate, and will come into tomorrow’s game in Donnybrook (KO 12pm, RTÉ 2) confident of securing third place.
While Ireland were shipping 56 points to France last weekend, Italy were building momentum with a rather comfortable 21-point win over Scotland.
Captain Manuela Furlan bagged a hat-trick of tries in that game. The winger, who has 77 caps to her name, remains Italy’s key player and was a notable injury absence as the Azzurre struggled in the early half of last season.
Alongside fellow veteran Michela Sillari (59 caps), Furlan brings a wealth of experience in front of rookie fullback Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi (5 caps).
That’s a trend which carries across this Italian side, who like Ireland, are undergoing a slight revamp. A quick scan of their matchday squad shows six players with less than 10 caps to their name, three of which start tomorrow.
Yet they still rely on a core bunch of experienced senior players.
Centre Beatrice Rigoni scored two tries and made 111 metres off 14 carries in a player of the match performance against the Scots. Sara Barattin, Italy’s most capped player ever, continues to pull the strings effectively at scrum-half and still has an eye for a linebreak, although at 34 it is her ability to bring others into the game which remains so vital to Italy as she closes in on her 100th cap.
One noticeable absence is back row Giada Franco, who was Italy’s driving force when they powered to that surprise second-place finish in 2019. Having started the 67-3 loss to England – a game in which Italy often defended better than the scoreline suggests – Franco missed the win over Scotland due to an ankle issue and isn’t included again again this weekend. She is a sizable loss, but one Italy can cope with.
Head coach Andrea Di Giandomenico has identified defensive pressure as they key to beating Ireland, and will no doubt be looking at this fixture in terms of the bigger picture, too, as Italy are also eyeing up that final World Cup qualifying spot.
With England and France operating on a different level to the other four Six Nations teams, Italy will measure their progress against Ireland, their most immediate rivals in this tournament given Scotland look way off the pace and Wales are also dealing with their own issues. The added incentive the new WXV tournament has placed on finishing third in the Six Nations only adds to the importance of being ‘best of the rest’.
Italy and Ireland arrive at this game in similar circumstances, having lost one of their two games heavily and won the other with some ease.
Adam Griggs’ team were far from their best but still came out on top in Donnybrook when they met last October, although Italy’s preparations for that game were unsettled by the ongoing pandemic.
In general terms, there has been little to pick between them in recent years. The stats show Italy tend to pass the ball more and carry the ball less than Ireland, albeit only slightly. If they get their attacking game going, they will look to throw offloads and break at pace in a bid to carve Ireland open.
Given how Ireland struggled to handle the intensity of France’s attack last week, Italy will travel to Dublin confident of signing off on a high.
The42 Rugby Weekly / SoundCloud
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