Leinster dismiss pretenders Ulster, Connacht find consistency and Ireland women crush Italy

Nathan Johns· Host0:01

[upbeat music] Hello, you're very welcome along to the latest edition of the CounterRock Rugby podcast, brought to you by The Irish Times in partnership with Oak Energy. Nathan Johns here. Plenty of action over the weekend. Uh, out in Galway, Ireland beat Italy in the Women's Six Nations, 57 points to 20, in front of a good crowd as well, over 9,000 in the Dexcom, in the home of Connacht. Uh, a welcome victory, albeit against a somewhat of a lackluster Italian side. But given last weekend's expected defeat, it should be said, in Twickenham, well, uh, Scott Beaman and co will be delighted to be back, uh, on the winning side, especially when you look at some of the performances that came in. Some of the bigger players that Ireland rely on a little bit more probably were a bit quiet in Twickenham, your Aoife Wayfers, your Maeve Parsons, these types of players. Um, but they were ... Both of them were excellent in Galway. Uh, Wayfer back to her dominant best, really. She was on the pitch for about 52, 53 minutes, but, you know, led Ireland for carries, had a few breakdown turnovers, a try, dominant in contact, and made nearly 100 meters with ball. And then, look, Parsons got player of the match, playing back in her home province, hat trick, pace, power. She scored an absolute wonder try just before half-time as well. Lots of offloading from teammates, Wayfer involved. Uh, Robyn O'Connor, the debut wing, was also involved in that, and she impressed with her score. A few areas to look at. Italy probably scored a few, not soft tries, but tries where tackles were falling off. Ireland could probably do with dominating a few more collisions, uh, defensively as well. But all things being