England 10 Ireland 26
What a difference a few hours makes. In losing to Fiji this morning, Ireland were dominated in the collisions and found themselves repeatedly on the wrong side of the referee’s whistle at the breakdown.
Come Sunday evening, they got virtually every decision as English ill-discipline on the floor gave Ireland plenty of opportunities to slow the game down and impose their structure on proceedings, skipper Lucy Mulhall pulling the strings to devastating effect to secure a 16-point win and with it the accolade of seventh best side in the world.
What’s more, an Eve Higgins hit in the second half that shunted England on the back foot - quickly followed up by a Katie Heffernan jackal - summed up an improved physical showing after Ireland were outmuscled by Fiji and New Zealand earlier in the tournament.
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In this seventh place final, England did lead twice in the first half. Megan Jones opened the scoring for the Red Rose with a stunning solo effort from deep, stepping off the back of a scrum before just about having enough pace to beat Higgins in the race to the corner.
Jade Shekells set up England’s second with another piece of solo brilliance, although the ease with which she shrugged off a tackle will be questioned, albeit her offload to send Ellie Boatman over was stunning.
In between those scores, Stacey Flood had levelled for Ireland, taking a penalty inside the English half quickly before selling a dummy to Emily Lane on the inside to open up a sufficient gap.
From there England’s ill-discipline dominated proceedings, Ireland repeatedly calling for scrum after scrum to get playmaker Mulhall on the ball in space. The ploy eventually worked as her pinpoint crosskick just before half-time sat up beautifully for the onrushing Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe who had far too much pace for the cover.
Another scrum led to another score after the break, only this time the play didn’t go through Mulhall as her decoy line proved just as effective as getting her on the ball. With the skipper running left off the scrum and the English defence following her, Murphy Crowe came back on the right, speeding through on a line from deep before putting over Megan Burns in the corner.
England could not get out of their half from then, an Erin King jackal penalty highlighting a much improved, physical defensive effort.
Murphy Crowe wrapped up proceedings to add her second and Ireland’s fourth, Mulhall scooping up a loose ball before King’s quick transfer sent the speedster away through the scrambled English line.
