2026 Guinness Women's Six Nations | Talking points from Ireland's 57-20 win against Italy

A weekend on from West London woes Ireland bounced back against Italy to register an untouchable 57-20 win in Galway.

Scott Bemand’s team clearly enjoyed being back in front of a home crowd as the hosts raced into a 45-10 half-time lead in front of 9,206 fans. A new record for Ireland’s women at home.

A first-half hat-trick from west coast native Béibhinn Parsons laid waste to Italy in that first two thirds of an hour. As did the scores of Emily Lane, Aoife Wafer, Robyn O’Connor and El Perry. Wiping out the scores of Vittoria Vecchini and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi.

In the second, far more attritional half things were a lot closer. Teams got two tries apiece as Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Brittany Hogan dotted down for the hosts, while Veronica Madia and Alyssa D’Inca’s efforts mean that the Italians take a try-scoring bonus point home.

Here are three talking points from a memorable Guinness Women’s Six Nations encounter at Dexcom Stadium…

Parsons finds best form at home

It was 87 years ago that Judie Garland uttered the words “there’s no place like home”. Now, nearly a century later, those words continue to be true as Béibhinn Parsons proved on Saturday evening as the 24-year-old scored a first-half hat-trick against the Italians in her home province.

Whether it was the Galway air or the feel of Dexcom Stadium’s artificial turf beneath her feet the wing was untouchable on her way to a Player of the Match performance. It was something we knew for former sevens flyer was capable of, but in between trading the 15-a-side game for life on the HSBC SVNS Series and injuries, we had not seen her best in Test rugby for some time. Until Round 2 of the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

You got to see her physicality. Her guile. Her intelligence. Something we were stricken of at last year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup when the Olympian crossed the whitewash only once in four appearances as Scott Bemand’s team exited the competition against France at the quarter-final stage.

Should this be just the first domino for Parsons before unleashing her abilities more regularly the timing could not be better. Not only has the team’s head coach made reference to his desire for Ireland to climb the world rankings, there is a British & Irish Lions Women tour coming in 2027. Parsons will surely be one of the players dreaming of boarding a flight to New Zealand.

“The crowd here is absolutely fantastic and they have been screaming form minute one to minute 80,” Parsons said at full-time. “We really felt that on the pitch and it is a dream come true to be able to play in Galway in front of such an amazing crowd. To put in a performance like that was just fantastic.

“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. 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.”

Italy never gave up

Perhaps one of the most frustrating things about Italy’s Round 1 loss to France was that they could not find the moment to spring back to life. Fabio Roselli’s team found just that in Galway and competed, even in vain, to the very last second. And have a try-scoring bonus point to show for their exploits.

One of the moments that encapsulated the Azzurre drive to thrive was Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi’s solo score in the first half. The 24-year-old just looked at the Ireland players in front of her and thought ‘they cannot stop me’. On that occasion the full-back was absolutely correct to back herself.

Womens Six Nations

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

England Women

2

2

0

0

10

2

France Women

2

2

0

0

10

3

Ireland Women

2

1

1

0

5

4

Scotland Women

2

1

1

0

4

5

Wales Women

2

0

2

0

1

6

Italy Women

2

0

2

0

1

In the second half things were reasonably level between the two teams. Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Brittany Hogan both charged over the whitewash for Ireland, but it was the concentrated efforts of Veronica Madia and Alyssa D’Inca that really caught the eye. Especially as the latter crashed across in the 77th minute to rescue something for Italy ahead of next week’s encounter with a bruised Scotland team.

52 minutes is all Wafer needs

While Béibhinn Parsons won the race to Player of the Match, Aoife Wafer was a very close second. Entrusted with the No.8 jersey again, one week on from a disappointing afternoon, the Harlequins back-row made 84 metres from just 12 carries, scored a try and completed eight tackles.

All of that came in just 52 minutes. With the game won at that stage head coach Scott Bemand made a mass substitution with all six replaced players leaving the turf to rapturous applause. A job well done.

As confidence boosts go it was a big one. There was nothing special about Ireland’s performance at Allianz Stadium a week ago as the Red Roses bested them yet again. Wafer’s subdued afternoon in West London was symptomatic of that. This time around brilliant flurries of emerald green meant the opposite.

To say this win is timely is an understatement. Next week Wafer and her teammates will travel to Clermont, where they will face France at the Stade Marcel-Michelin. It is a fixture that stokes plenty of memories as the embers of last year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final are stoked back to a full raging fire.

Ireland led the game at half-time 13-0. In the second 40 minute spell Bemand’s side lost all momentum and saw their opponents win 18-13. That is before you even consider that the officials missed a bite on Wafer which, should it have been caught, could have turned the tide. Undoubtedly the clash of Round 3.