The Italdonne rugby team returns to the field on Sunday afternoon and does so in Dublin, where the second day of the women’s Guinness Six Nations 2024 will be staged. For Nanni Raineri’s girls, the opportunity to get back on their feet after the defeat against England, but watch out for Ireland – a team that is certainly within reach, but which we have never beaten away.
It will be the twenty-third match between the two teams, with a result clearly in favor of Ireland, who have won 19 previous matcheseven if the last match saw the Italians prevail 24-7 in Parma in the 2023 Six Nations. Italy which, as mentioned, has never won in Ireland, but hopes to dispel the taboo in a match that promises great balance, with the Irish also returned from a clear knockout, but against France.
After the match against England, however, Raineri will have to miss out on four players, who will be out for the rest of the tournament due to injury. These are two of the most experienced players on the team, Michela Sillari and Elisa Giordano, the young promise Giulia Cavina and the very young Nicole Mastrangelo. The Italian coach will therefore have to find alternative solutions in view of a difficult match.
To undermine the Irish defense an aggressive pack will certainly be needed, both in closed scrums and on meeting points, to limit a team that has – given the due proportions of quality – a game not very dissimilar to England. Then the midfielder will have to move the ball quickly to trigger the speed and quality of the attacking midfielders like Aura Muzzo, Alyssa D’Incà and Vittoria Ostuni Minuzzi to strike and try to win.
