Women's Six Nations: Ireland beat Italy 25-5 to secure third place

Murphy Crowe scores brace on first Six Nations start

Women's Six Nations

Ireland (8) 25

Tries: Wall, Murphy Crowe 2, Moloney Pen: Flood Con: Flood

Italy (0) 5

Tries: Bettoni

Ireland beat Italy 25-5 in Dublin to secure third place in the condensed 2021 Women's Six Nations tournament.

Dorothy Wall barged over in the corner for a ninth-minute try, Stacey Flood adding a penalty before half-time.

Wing Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe marked her first start by touching down early in the second half, Flood converting.

Hooker Cliodhna Moloney drove over the line on 51 minutes, with Melissa Bettoni scoring Italy's try and Murphy Crowe dotting down again in added time.

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Dorothy Wall touches down for Ireland's first try of the match

Ireland had beaten Wales 45-0 in their opening fixture before losing heavily 56-15 to France in their second match.

Coach Adam Griggs made three changes to his starting line-up for the clash with the Italians, which was moved from Parma to Dublin because of quarantine issues.

Murphy Crowe, fly-half Flood and Brittany Hogan were all called up to make their first starts for the third-placed play-off played in sun-kissed conditions at Donnybrook.

Ireland moved the ball quickly for their opening try, flanker Wall surging over after shrugging off the challenges of a couple of Italy defenders.

The home side had centre Sene Naoupu yellow carded for a high tackle at the midway point of the first half, while captain Ciara Griffin was forced off through injury, but Flood's penalty in the 29th minute saw them go in eight points to the good at the break.

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Ireland centre Sene Naoupu is tackled by Michela Sallari

Four minutes after the resumption, Hogan won a lineout and after a maul, Murphy Crowe accelerated and weaved her way past two Italian players to cross for her side's second try.

Moloney grabbed the hosts' third score thanks to some quick thinking as she took a quick tap penalty before diving over, just reward for her team's superiority as they pinned their opponents into their own half for much of the game.

It was an error-strewn performance by Italy, who had lost 67-3 to England and beaten Scotland 41-20 in their opening two fixtures.

They gained some consolation as hooker Bettoni rumbled over with 11 minutes remaining but Murphy Crowe had the final say as she darted over behind the posts in the third minute of injury-time.

The result will come as a boost for Ireland as they could face Italy again later this year in a World Cup qualifier.

Ireland coach Adam Griggs, speaking post-match: "We are pretty satisfied in the end. It wasn't the prettiest game and we had to scarp for every inch.

"We got ourselves a win and it's a nice way to finish. We had some really good patches, showing what we can do, then some other little things we need to work on."

Ireland's player of the match Stacey Flood: "We are delighted with the win as the team has worked really hard.

"That wasn't our best performance but it was a real team effort and we showed a lot of that Irish fight.

"We have a lot to take from the game, good and bad. For me, it has been a great experience - I have learnt so much during these last three weeks of rugby and the camps before that."

Ireland: E Considine; A Murphy Crowe, E Higgins, S Naoupu, B Parsons; S Flood, K Dane; L Peat, C Moloney, L Djougang; A McDermott, N Fryday; D Wall, B Hogan, C Griffin.

Replacements: N Jones, L Feely, L Lyons, G Moore, H O'Connor, E Lane, H Tyrrell, E Breen.

Italy: V Ostuni Minuzzi; M Furlan, M Sillari, B Rigoni, M Magatti; V Madia, S Barratin; E Skofca, M Bettoni, L Gai; V Fedrighi, G Duca; I Arrighetti, F Sgorbini, E Giordano.

Replacements: L Cammarano, G Maris, M Merlo, S Tounesi, I Locatelli, B Veronese, S Stefan, A Muzzo.