'Dream come true' for Parsons as Ireland turn on style

ByMatt Gault

BBC Sport NI senior journalist

Beibhinn Parsons is no stranger to the spotlight. She made her Ireland debut aged 16 and has often been expected to deliver as one of her country's stars.

Parsons has scored tries in the Six Nations and World Cup and represented the Ireland Sevens at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

But Saturday will have meant a little bit more to the 24-year-old.

Born and raised in Ballinasloe just east of Galway city, Parsons had a homecoming to remember as Ireland put Italy to the sword in an emphatic Six Nations win at the newly redeveloped Dexcom Stadium.

With the 9,206-strong crowd - a record for an Ireland women's home game - screaming her name, Parsons led a vibrant Irish attack with her first-half hat-trick setting Scott Bemand's side on course for a 57-20 win.

"The crowd here is absolutely fantastic and they have been screaming form minute one to minute 80," said a smiling Parsons, who was named player of the match in Ireland's first Women's Six Nations fixture in Galway.

"We really felt that on the pitch and it is a dream come true to be able to play in Galway in front of such an amazing crowd. To put in a performance like that was just fantastic."

In the build-up to Saturday's game, Parsons admitted her performance in last week's defeat by England "left a lot to be desired".

But she insisted she felt no extra pressure to deliver in Galway and her performance certainly did not show any nerves.

Having already displayed her trademark power and pace to cross twice, Parsons completed her treble in style as she finished off Ireland's best move of the game, with slick offloads from Stacey Flood and Robyn O'Connor before Aoife Wafer sent the winger flying down the left wing.

"Those types of tries have been coming off in training so to have one now on the international stage is just fantastic. It's so special," added Parsons.

"We talked about our green wave and how much it has built. To see the crowd here today, everyone from young and old, it's fantastic."

In last week's 33-12 loss to England, Ireland were made to pay for a sluggish start that allowed the world champions to race into a 21-0 half-time lead.

The disappointment for Bemand against Italy, however, was that his side failed to build on a rampant first-half display that yielded seven tries and allowed the visitors to nick a try bonus point late on.

This is Bemand's third Six Nations in charge of Ireland and he is yet to mastermind a win over England or France.

And as his players prepare to switch focus to facing the French - who knocked them out of last year's World Cup - in Clermont next week, Bemand has laid down an early challenge to his squad to improve on Saturday's second-half performance as they chase a statement win away from home.

"We always want to win in Ireland regardless of who we play against," said Bemand.

"We have got to take stock of this performance and go to France next week. We're going to go after ourselves, there are some things to tidy up from today but if we get those bits right, we know we can put in a performance to compete with the French."

When put to him that confidence must be high in the group after scoring nine tries against Italy, Bemand added: "We've just got to keep going. We think we are getting better.

"We see it in training. The first game away to England is as hard as it comes, as it next week, but we will just be looking after ourselves and we'll keep trying to get better every time we play.

"We think we are getting a better and better group for that."

Ireland are capable of delivering a seismic result under Bemand, of course. In the 2024 WXV1, they stunned then world champions New Zealand with a sensational performance.

To beat France - who have started their tournament with wins over Italy and Wales - they require a similarly tenacious and clinical performance.

But having one of their best finishers in Parsons in such fine form before boarding the plane to Clermont is a good starting point.