• Parsons hat-trick as Ireland thrash Italy in Galway

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  • ‘Smiles on our faces’ – reaction as Ireland beat Italy

In the build-up to Saturday’s game, Parsons admitted her performance in last week’s defeat by England “left a lot to be desired”.

But she insisted she felt no extra pressure to deliver in Galway and her performance certainly did not show any nerves.

Having already displayed her trademark power and pace to cross twice, Parsons completed her treble in style as she finished off Ireland’s best move of the game, with slick offloads from Stacey Flood and Robyn O’Connor before Aoife Wafer sent the winger flying down the left wing.

“Those types of tries have been coming off in training so to have one now on the international stage is just fantastic. It’s so special,” added Parsons.

“We talked about our green wave and how much it has built. To see the crowd here today, everyone from young and old, it’s fantastic.”

‘We’re going to go after ourselves’

In last week’s 33-12 loss to England, Ireland were made to pay for a sluggish start that allowed the world champions to race into a 21-0 half-time lead.

The disappointment for Bemand against Italy, however, was that his side failed to build on a rampant first-half display that yielded seven tries and allowed the visitors to nick a try bonus point late on.

This is Bemand’s third Six Nations in charge of Ireland and he is yet to mastermind a win over England or France.

And as his players prepare to switch focus to facing the French – who knocked them out of last year’s World Cup – in Clermont next week, Bemand has laid down an early challenge to his squad to improve on Saturday’s second-half performance as they chase a statement win away from home.

“We always want to win in Ireland regardless of who we play against,” stated Bemand.

“We have got to take stock of this performance and go to France next week. We’re going to go after ourselves, there are some things to tidy up from today but if we get those bits right, we know we can put in a performance to compete with the French.”

Scott Bemand and Erin King celebrate Image source, Inpho
Image caption,

Head coach Scott Bemand wants Ireland to reach another level as they chase a statement win in France

When put to him that confidence must be high in the group after scoring nine tries against Italy, Bemand added: “We’ve just got to keep going. We think we are getting better.

“We see it in training. The first game away to England is as hard as it comes, as it next week, but we will just be looking after ourselves and we’ll keep trying to get better every time we play.

“We think we are getting a better and better group for that.”

Ireland are capable of delivering a seismic result under Bemand, of course. In the 2024 WXV1, they stunned then world champions New Zealand with a sensational performance.

To beat France – who have started their tournament with wins over Italy and Wales – they require a similarly tenacious and clinical performance.

But having one of their best finishers in Parsons in such fine form before boarding the plane to Clermont is a good starting point.

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