Anna McGann hat-trick helps Ireland ‘rewrite past’ against Italy

Hat-trick heroine Anna McGann hailed Ireland’s “new era” after she helped Scott Bemand’s side secure a record win against Italy and first away Guinness Women’s Six Nations victory in four years.

Ireland brushed aside the Azzurre in Parma, running in eight tries en route to a 54-12 victory that will salve some of the wounds from their agonising home defeat to France in round one.

McGann completed her hat-trick in the final play and was joined on the scoresheet by Player of the Match Aoife Dalton, Amee Leigh Costigan, Linda Djougang, Dorothy Wall and Brittany Hogan. Dannah O’Brien kicked seven of her eight conversion attempts.

That the match was played at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, the setting for the team’s Rugby World Cup 2021 qualification heartbreak and a ground on which they had never previously won a Six Nations match, only served to underline Ireland’s sense of achievement.

“It felt unbelievable,” McGann said. “It was such a team performance from the start to the very finish.

“I think we showed real resilience at times, especially at the end of the first half, keeping them out of our try line for about five minutes.

“It’s just an unbelievable feeling to rewrite the past here in Parma. It’s a new era for us.”

McGann is enjoying a fine season, having finished as the joint second-top try scorer in the Celtic Challenge to regain her place in the Ireland team.

However, she refused to take the credit for her triple in Parma. “To be fair, I only dotted down the ball,” she insisted.

“The girls did all the hard work. They were full team tries, and it was just class to be a part of it.”

Next up for Ireland, following the fallow week, is a date with six-time defending champions and world No.1 team, England.

Ireland suffered a demoralising 88-10 defeat in the reverse fixture at Allianz Stadium last year, in what was the only blot in an otherwise excellent campaign.

But Bemand’s side will prepare for that match knowing they have fixed some of the issues that cost them so dear against France in the opening round.

“We were very frustrated after last week against France,” McGann admitted. “There were multiple times where we could have executed and gotten scores, and we didn’t.

“So, I think that was a real focus for us this week and I think you could see out there our execution was a lot higher than it was [against France].

“There are still things that we want to fix and we will going towards the next game but all in all, quite happy with that.”