Ireland vs England
So England women backed up the 10-5 win over France during the week with another tight victory over Ireland winning with a late converted try with Izzy Noel Smith crashing over with Katy Mc Lean kicking the conversation to give England the win.
From an Ireland point of view, it was defiantly a case of what could have been due to the fast start that they made to the game with the likes of Nora Stapleton , Mairead Coyne and Sene Naoupu to the fore in both defence and attack. Although they were both scoreless after 25 minutes , Rocky Clarke the veteran prop on the occasion of her 115th cap was on hand to get the scoreboard ticking over and England led 5-0 although they missed the chance to add the extra two points.
It stayed 5-0 to England with Ireland really trying to pressure the England defence with little success until Nora Stapleton managed to bag her team a penalty and with that Ireland went in 5-3 down at the break.
In the 2nd half , Ireland were handed the perfect start when the impressive Nora Stapleton crossed the try line to give Ireland an 10-5 lead with the extra points also added. This was the way it remained until the 78th minute when Poppy Clell manged to burrow her way in to get England back on level terms with replacement out half Katy Mc Lean scoring the winning points with a conversation from wide on the right touch line.
From an Irish point of view , they will know they will need to quicken up the speed of ball that is going out to the backline if they are to cause either Canada or New Zealand problems. Stand out performers for Ireland were Nora Stapleton, Claire Molloy , Sene Naoupu with honourable mention going to Ailis Egan and Maz Reilly who tried to get Ireland the go forward ball required to try and trouble a water tight England defence. This defence was central to England managing to hold Ireland at bay in the dyeing minutes of the contest.
Looking to the next two weeks , Ireland will know they let England back into this contest and will realise they need to find a way to kill teams off. In saying all of this when you are without two star performers in Niamh Briggs and Sophie Spence you are going to be lacking tactical nouse but there replacements Mairead Coyne and Orla Fitzsimons were very capable and have shown that it’s not just two world class operators Ireland have , they have many with the names of Coyne and Fitzsimons jumping to the head of that queue.
There was a crowd of over 1,300 packed into the UCD Bowl and this made for a very special atmosphere. Looking to August 2017 when the World Cup Pool stages will commence in UCD with the knockout phase set for Belfast , the crowd of over 1,300 made themselves heard and that support will be required over the next two weeks and into next year’s Six Nations before the World Cup rolls round.
Today may not have been Ireland’s day but they now have a platform to build from for the rest of November into the rest of the campaign.
By
Cian Mc Gibney
13/11/2017
