Bemand has made four personnel changes to the starting fifteen from last weekend’s opening round loss to France.
Up front, Sam Monaghan returns to the second row and will captain the side while Grace Moore is named at blindside, having come off the bench last week.
The front row remains the same with Linda Djougang and Christy Haney packing down either side of Neve Jones. Dorothy Wall partners Monaghan in the second row while Aoife Wafer moves across the back row with Moore coming in. Brittany Hogan again starts at 8.
Dannah O’Brien comes in at fly-half this week and is partnered by scrum-half Aoibheann Reilly. Enya Breen (pictured) makes her return to international action for the first time since picking up an injury in last year’s opening round of the Championship against Wales.
She partners Eve Higgins in the centre.The back three remains unchanged with Beibhinn Parsons, Katie Corrigan and Lauren Delany all set to start.Eimear Corri comes on to the bench to join Sarah Delaney, Niamh O’Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath and Fiona Tuite as the forward replacements. Aoife Dalton is named alongside Nicole Fowley and Molly Scuffil-McCabe.
Ireland team to face Italy
15. Lauren Delany (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby); 14. Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster); 13. Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), 12. Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC/Munster); 11. Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht); 10. Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), 9. Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht); 1. Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), 2. Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), 3. Christy Haney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster); 4. Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College RFC/Munster), 5. Sam Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury) (Captain); 6. Grace Moore (Saracens/IQ Rugby), 7. Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), 8. Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster)
Replacements
16. Sarah Delaney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), 17. Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), 18. Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke RFC/Ulster), 19. Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster), 20. Eimear Corri (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), 21. Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster), 22. Nicole Fowley (Galwegians RFC/Connacht), 23. Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster)
