Women’s Six Nations: Italy v Ireland, Stadio Lanfranchi, Parma (Sunday, 3pm Irish time. Live on Virgin Media One, BBC 2)
Resilience is an important character trait for any sportsperson, one that Ireland scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly has displayed in battling back from not one but two ACL surgeries, one on each knee. The 24-year-old from Ballinasloe made her return to Test rugby off the bench in Ireland’s defeat to France last weekend.
On Sunday in Parma she’ll start, forming a halfback partnership with Dannah O’Brien. Reilly tore the ACL in her right knee three years ago. The second time was while playing Sevens for Ireland in Madrid in the build-up to the Olympics, shattering a dream.
While the injuries were the same the rehabilitation process differed from a mindset perspective. She explained: “First time around I was 21 and hadn’t played a whole lot for Ireland. So, I don’t know if I had that pressure on me to go back.
“My rehab process was a bit longer, but this is a World Cup year, and I knew I needed to get back and get game time under my belt, especially after spending so long in Sevens. I was very focused, worked with some great physios to get me back fit and ready to perform.
“It was a very emotional moment standing there for the anthems [last week in Belfast]. When I tore my ACL for the second time, before the Olympics last summer, I was just focusing on getting back for that France game. I knew that everything had to go right in my rehab journey to get back on the pitch, so it was a big moment for me and my family just wearing the green again.”
She returned to the match arena in a little over eight months, the second time, playing a couple of games for the Clovers in the Celtic Challenge, which facilitated her return to the Irish team. During that absence she did come co-comms for television, European Challenge Cup games, and also was given a backroom role with Andy Farrell’s men’s squad.
She said: “I was very lucky to have been asked to join the men’s team for the November internationals as a support analyst. It was a great way for me to develop my knowledge off-pitch, see how they run things and then also keep learning and growing my rugby IQ while I couldn’t be on-field. That was such a valuable experience and I’m very grateful to the IRFU and to the men’s squad for that.
“While I was rehabbing here in HPC I would tailor my days with my physio so I could be there for their big pitch sessions and then I headed over to Portugal for a few days for their pre-camp, which was great. I also shadowed a bit on matchday which was a great insight.”
Did she pick up any tips? “Just the way they operate, similar to us, they’re obviously professionals but it was interesting to see how they do things on matchday that are different but also similar to us. Just the level of experience they have in their squad and how they use that, seeing that was very valuable.”
Reilly is one of three changes to the team that lost 27-15 to France last week. Ireland head coach Scott Bemand promotes Fiona Tuite, Edel McMahon – she takes over the captaincy – and Reilly from the bench with Dorothy Wall, Brittany Hogan and Emily Lane heading in the opposite direction.
Italian head coach Fabio Roselli has made six changes to the side that was beaten 38-5 by England on the opening weekend of the tournament. Hooker Vittoria Vecchini, Gaia Maris, Sara Tounesi and Emma Stevanin swap the bench for a starting role, while number eight Elisa Giordano and centre Michela Sillari are the other alterations to the run-on team.
There are a couple of positional switches with Alyssa D’Inca moving from centre to wing, Francesca Granzotto from wing to fullback and Francesca Sgorbini from number eight to flanker. Italy are looking for a hat-trick of wins over Ireland in the Six Nations, having won just one of the previous 16 matches between the sides.
Ireland have lost 10 of their last 11 away games, including the previous seven, a streak they’d dearly love to break. There were aspects of the Irish performance last week that were promising but what can’t continue is the number of basic errors.
Getting players on the ball like Aoife Wafer, Amee-Leigh Costigan, Stacey Flood, Linda Djougang, Aoife Dalton, Erin King who can break a game open is important but so too is a progression in quality in terms of the collective output. Do that and anything is possible.
Italy: F Granzotto; A Muzzo, M Sillari, B Rigoni, A D’Inca; E Stevanin, S Stefan; S Turani, V Vecchini, G Maris; V Fedrighi, G Duca; S Tounesi, F Sgorbini, E Giordano. Replacements: L Gurioli, V Zanette, S Seye, B Veronese, A Ranuccini, AA Bitonci, S Mannini, B Capomaggi.
Ireland: S Flood (Railway Union); A McGann (Railway Union), A Dalton (Old Belvedere/Leinster), E Higgins (Railway Union), A-L Costigan (Railway Union/Munster); D O’Brien (Old Belvedere /Leinster), A Reilly (Blackrock College/Connacht); N O’Dowd (Old Belvedere/Leinster), N Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), L Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster); R Campbell (Old Belvedere/Leinster), F Tuite (Old Belvedere/Ulster); E McMahon (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht, capt), Erin King (Old Belvedere), A Wafer (Blackrock College/Leinster). Replacements: C Moloney (Exeter Chiefs), S McCarthy (Railway Union/Munster), C Haney (Blackrock College/Leinster), G Moore (Trailfinders Women), D Wall (Exeter Chiefs/Munster), B Hogan (Old Belvedere/Ulster), E Lane (Blackrock College), E Breen (Blackrock College/Munster).
