Easter surprise from the women of the blue Italruby who they won 27-21 in Dublin against Ireland in the Six Nations, also gaining the offensive bonus thanks to the two tries by Vecchini ('player of the match') and the other two by Fedrighi and Muzzo. The coach's team Nanni Rainerifresh from the home defeat on his debut with England, had never won on the Irish pitch and thus moved to 5 points in the standings, in third place behind England and France.
In front of over 6 thousand spectators at the Rds Arena, the Italians started in difficulty and went down 7-0 and lost Vittoria Ostuni-Minuzzi to a yellow card after she avoided a try with a voluntary forward move.
In the 25th minute, however, the goal arrives Vittoria Vecchini on the push of the maul to launch the blue comeback. In the 33rd minute Valeria Fedrighi scores a goal and brings Italy to 7-12 which becomes 7-15 thanks to a kick from Rigoni.
In the second half, before the hour mark, Vecchini's second goal arrives for the 7-22. In the 62nd minute the Irish maul leads to Jones' goal (14-22) but seven minutes later Aura Muzzo responds by smashing the goal: 14-27 and an offensive bonus won. In the final, Katie Corrigan's try (21-27) reopens the match but the Italians resist and take home a very precious success.
«It was an intense match from the start, but we knew how to hold on and react when the time was right», commented the Italian coach Raineri, «we leave with important points and with the awareness of having made steps forward in our growth path» .
«We found ourselves in the situation of having to play in a different way than the game plan we had thought of», explained the captain Sofia Stefan, «but I am very satisfied with how we held our own and how we came out in the long run, with intensity and stubbornness». Now “we will enjoy the week's break from the tournament and we will return more energized than before to prepare for the match against France”, she added.
On the choice of 'double play' with Madia as fly-half and Stevanin as first centre, Raineri said he was satisfied: «Emma is a strong player in defence, but also ball in hand: we knew she would perform well as a 12, but in general the entire back line played well, even with Rigoni as the second center who lent a hand in the setup phase.”
