Ireland 40-5 Kazakhstan

Ireland began the first half on the front foot and after some early pressure they hit the front with a try from Sharon Lynch and this was converted by Jackie Sheils. After some more Irish pressure the Kazaks began to grow into the game by using brute force and also some good play by their backs. The Kazaks came to disrupt the Irish at the breakdown had large amounts of success in a twenty minute period that saw them own the ball.

 They made little headway on the scoreboard and the Irish held a 7-0 lead until the Kazaks persistence with a pick and go game plan paid off with them crashing over for a deserved try after they had been just held up at a previous scrum. They failed with the conversion, but they then stuck to the physical approach that stunned the Irish. From an Irish point of view the try scored by Tania Rosser just before half time seemed to be just what they needed to get back on top before the break. Ireland led 7-5 at half time.

Into the second half and Ireland began to assert their dominance at scrum time. Great work by Paula Fitzpatrick led to Ireland being awarded a penalty try. Also in the second half, Ireland notched up tries from a second try by Lynch and a fine individual effort by Siobhan Fleming along with a late effort from Vicky Mc Ginn. Ireland introduced some real fire power from the bench in the shape of skipper Fiona Coughlan, Ailish Egan, Nora Stapleton and Claire Molloy. These subs seemed to give Ireland the boost they needed to kick on and dominate the second half.

Heading into next week’s semi-final, Ireland have a few bits and pieces to work on but they can great comfort from the fact they were under real pressure in the first half and survived and then they came through to win in impressive fashion.

For now though it is time to saviour the fact that Ireland are in a World Cup Semi Final and they can prepare for the battle safe in the knowledge that they are top seeds and now the team to beat !!!!

By

Cian Mc Gibney