The days when Ireland couldn't buy a win against Italy The story of Ireland’s hat-trick of Italian humiliations in the mid-90s is one of farce and bad planning. Garry Doyle By Garry Doyle Saturday 27 Feb 2021, 8:36 AM Feb 27th 2021, 8:36 AM 22,673 Views 13 Comments WHEN NICK POPPLEWELL stood in the car park of an Alan Partridge-type hotel in May 1995, a bitter reality dawned. Professionalism was on the way into rugby but the bus to bring Popplewell and his Irish team mates to the Stadio Comunale di Monigo in Treviso, was not. Time passed. The players stood still. The man from the IRFU made a series of frantic phone calls. No joy. No bus, either. Kick-off for Ireland’s fifth international of the year – a crucial warm-up ahead of that year’s World Cup – was fast approaching. And the Ireland international team – in every sense of the word – was going nowhere.