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Ireland picked up their first win of the TikTok Women’s Six Nations in style as they powered to a 29-8 win over Italy in Cork.
Tries from Lucy Mulhall and Neve Jones gave Ireland a 10-3 advantage at half-time, despite playing into the wind for the opening 40 minutes.
And they took full advantage of the conditions after the break to run in a further three tries, Eve Higgins, a penalty try and Katie O’Dwyer doing the damage.
Melissa Bettoni got over for the sole Italian try, but they were not able to threaten again ahead of a home clash with Scotland in Round 4.
It was Italy who started the stronger, Alyssa D’Inca put into space on the right and only denied by a brilliant recovery from Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.
The Azzurre had penalty advantage though, and Beatrice Rigoni slotted the simple penalty to put them 3-0 up after four minutes.
From there, Ireland built the pressure and camped in the Italian 22. That was rewarded when Mulhall was put over in the corner by a lovely miss-pass from Nicole Cronin.
They almost had a second on the half-hour, Murphy Crowe deemed to have been tackled and not released before dotting down.
But it was only temporary respite for Italy. First Elisa Giordano was sent to the sin-bin for a succession of offsides, and then Jones got over from a rolling maul to make it 10-3 at the break.
The second half saw Ireland seize control completely. Higgins was fastest to react to a speculative kick from behind a ruck by Kathryn Dane, collecting and then racing home. Cronin converted to make it 17-3.
Shortly after came a try that will have delighted coach Greg McWilliams. A week on from enduring a torrid time in the scrum in France, Ireland turned the tables. And they were rewarded with a penalty try after a five-metre scrum was stopped illegally.
Italy came back into it, with D’Inca dangerous on one searing break from her own half. And they were helped when debutant Aoife Wafer was sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous clearout.
Up against 14, Italy struck for their first try, Bettoni darting off the back of a rolling maul to score.
Fittingly though, it was Ireland who had the final say, O’Dwyer taking advantage of a loose ball from a stolen lineout to pounce and crash over.
