IRELAND HEAD COACH Scott Bemand issued a positive update on Lauren Delany after the fullback was forced off during Ireland’s 27-21 Six Nations defeat to Italy today.
Delany left the pitch on a stretcher after a long stoppage towards the end of the first half.
The fullback picked up an injury after being tackled by Italy’s Alyssa D’Inca while trying to run the ball from deep.
“Yeah, thankfully she was up and fine at halftime,” said Bemand. “She was back on her feet and in the dressing room at halftime.”
Bemand was unable to clarify the nature of Delany’s injury but there should be a further update from the IRFU later in the week.
Overall, the Ireland boss was frustrated to see his side clock up a series of handling errors as they butchered a number of scoring opportunites, with Italy recovering from a slow start to outscore their hosts by four tries to three.
“As a group, we’ve said we go for performance, and we definitely haven’t shied away about talking about winning.
As we sit here now we’re pretty disappointed not to win the game. There’s plenty of moments in that, that gave us opportunities to do that.
“We’ll dust ourselves down, we have two big games back in Ireland, and obviously the one away in England. We have some big games to come, and if we’re not winning we’re learning and we’ll go after the learning.”
According to the Six Nations website, Ireland made 27 handling errors as their execution in the Italy 22 repeatedly let the down.
The positive spin is that Ireland were creating scoring opportunities after enjoying limited attacking success against France in round one, but Bemand acknowledged his team will need to be more clinical when they host Wales in round three (13 April).
“I think it’s probably a little bit of confidence and belief, that you can actually see it out. The Italians, we knew what game they bring, they wont give up, they’re dogged and determined, and you have to go out and beat them. They don’t give up in tackles, and you look at the possession, the territory, how much time we spent in their 22.
“We just got to learn to be under that pressure and be clinical under that pressure. The handling errors, certainly an area of our game to get after. It’s just being confident in that pressure.”
