Excellent second half performance sees Ireland Women pull away from Italy

The Irish Women's team got off to a flier in Florence, thumping Italy by 30 points to 5 in Florence.

New captain Niamh Briggs opened the scoring 20 minutes in, crossing for a try which she then converted, as Italy frustrated Tom Tierney's side up until the break. Ailis Egan's try gave Ireland a comfortable 12-0 lead, and when Briggs landed a penalty to raise it to 15-0, Ireland began to pull away. The tries started to flow after as the game opened up, with Jenny Murphy, Heather O'Brien and a second for Briggs taking Ireland 30-0 ahead. The only blot on the copybook came in the dying seconds as Italy crossed for a consolation try, but despite that, a former Irish captain was pretty pleased with what she saw. https://twitter.com/CoghlanFiona/status/563788051277942786