The home of Connacht Rugby will welcome the nations’ Under-21 teams for an inaugural U-21 Women’s Six Nations Series clash at 2.20pm, before the main event at 5.40pm sees Ireland aiming to bounce back from last week’s 33-12 defeat to England.
Scott Bemand’s charges went to Parma at this stage of last year’s Championship and claimed a record 54-12 win over Italy, who have been tricky opponents in recent years. They beat Ireland 24-7 at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in 2023 and also won 27-21 at the RDS the following year.
However, backs and kicking coach Steenson, who has been part of the Ireland set-up since August 2024, has been encouraged by what he has seen in training in advance of only the second ever Women’s international fixture in Galway.
With no injury concerns coming out of the England game, and a fit-again Sam Monaghan poised to return to the matchday 23, he said: “We’ve got a good bit of health. The girls have come through with a good training week as well.
“So, we’ve been able to pick from a pretty strong squad. We’re in good fettle and looking forward to this week. The training sessions have been good.
“It’s been some of the best training sessions I’ve seen since I’ve been involved now. So, it’s just about growing the group every single time they get an opportunity.”
Eradicating the first half errors that allowed England to build a 21-0 lead will be key, while they were able to go score for score with the World champions over the closing 40 minutes. Replacement Anna McGann and new captain Erin King scored Ireland’s opening tries of 2026.
According to McGann, Monday brought a ‘brutally honest’ review of the Championship opener, but Ireland have shown their ability to make quick fixes and improve their performance signficantly from week to week, particularly during last year’s Six Nations and at the Rugby World Cup.
Steenson reckons that they can take a lot out of that final quarter at Allianz Stadium, during which they crossed the whitewash twice and their bench had a notable impact. They will want to build some early momentum against Italy, whom they have defeated 16 times in 19 Six Nations encounters.
“There’s positives for sure (from the performance against England), but there are frustrations. This group is in a position now where they want to move forward. There’s been a few tough conversations this week, which has actually been really good for the group.
“I think we’re at a stage now where, you know, we want to break into that top four in the world. Ultimately, we’ve got to be able to try and push the boundaries.
“There was some good stuff done over in Twickenham. But again, it probably felt like we maybe took a little bit of time to get into the game. Obviously, going points down against a team that is as strong as England are, it’s always going to be hard to come back in those scenarios.
“But the good thing was the way that we finished the game, we took a lot of positives from the end part of the game. We’ve just got to shore up how we actually approach the game in order to start with.”
Italy’s own 40-7 loss to France in Grenoble does not truly reflect how well Roselli’s outfit played. They were only 5-0 behind at half-time, having threatened an early try with their territorial dominance, and used their experienced squad – with over 800 Test caps between them – to hold their own.
Nonetheless, France managed to pull away, scoring five unanswered tries after the break. Hooker Vittoria Vccchini, the scorer of two tries in a player-of-the-match performance against Ireland in 2024, admitted that ‘the batteries ran out a bit’ for her Italian side as France took a stranglehold, and that they ‘couldn’t maintain the same rhythm’.
There are a number of familiar names in Italy’s selection, including Veronica Madia and Alyssa d’Inca in the backs, and captain Elisa Giordano and Silvia Turani, Aoife Wafer’s club-mate at Harlequins, up front. Steenson also mentioned the kicking contribution of scrum half Alia Bitonci.
“Italy have got a really good set-piece game. They’ve got some really dangerous backs out there. When they get the ball to the edge, they can do a lot of damage.
“A forward pack there with a lot of good set-piece in there. Their nine’s really good at box kicking, so we expect a few high balls to be coming up on top of us as well.
“They’ve got an attacking kicking game as well, so we’ve done a lot of hard work in catching high balls and actually getting ourselves into the right types of positions. But for us, there’s a few tidy-ups we have from the weekend. We want to get our carrying game back out there.
“We want to play with a good bit of speed and intent, and that’s the way we’re kind of approaching this game going into it. We want to imprint our game on them and see if they can live with it.
“Like I said, it’s been a good training week. The girls are in good mood, they’ve taken a lot of lessons out of the week and we’ve had some good conversations, and we’re fully ready going into this weekend.”
Steenson played at the Sportsground during his underage days with his native Ulster, and was an unused replacement when Exeter Chiefs beat Connacht there in January 2015 to qualify for the European Challenge Cup quarter-final stage.
A winner of two English Premiership titles and a Champions Cup during his 12 years at Exeter, the recently-turned 42-year-old is delighted to see Ireland playing at the Galway venue, given the countrywide support the team felt around World Cup time and now into this new campaign.
“It’s fantastic. If you’re talking about growing the Green Wave that we’re trying to do, the girls have been fantastic. I think there was a really good buzz even after seeing what was going on in Twickenham.
“The Women’s game is growing, but to be able to go over there, I believe it’s the first time they’ve got to play a Six Nations game in Galway. I think there’s a good crowd coming out as well.
“We want to go and showcase what the group’s about. You know, they want to go out and play our best game, and that is what we’re hoping to showcase this Saturday,” he added.