Ireland 64 Colombia 3
Neve Jones and Beibhinn Parsons helped themselves to a brace of tries at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai on Saturday as the Ireland women’s rugby team made it two wins from two in WXV 3 with a comfortable triumph against Colombia.
Scott Bemand’s side ran in a grand total of 10 tries to move a single point clear of Spain at the third-tier summit ahead of their crunch meeting next Saturday – a game that will effectively decide who gains promotion to WXV 2 for 2024.
Much like last week’s record-breaking 109-0 success against Kazakhstan, Ireland enjoyed a dream start to this contest. There was just over three minutes gone on the clock when hooker Jones touched down at the end of an extended attack and with Dannah O’Brien supplying the extras, they were already seven points to the good.
A late addition to the starting line-up in place of Nicole Fowley, O’Brien combined to good effect with Eve Higgins before releasing Natasja Behan for a simple finish in the left-corner on 11 minutes.
Ireland were ruthlessly going about their business for the second game running and having crossed the whitewash in the rout of Kazakhstan, Grace Moore once again bagged a try under intense pressure from the Colombian defence in the 17th-minute.
A bonus point was secured when Parsons passed inside to fellow Ballinasloe native Meabh Deely off an exquisite O’Brien crossfield kick and joint-captain Edel McMahon also got in on the try-scoring act to ensure Ireland developed a convincing 38-0 interval cushion.
Just over 60 seconds had elapsed in the second half when Parsons (who joined Higgins in bagging four tries against Kazakhstan) rounded off another intricate attack for Ireland’s seventh try of the evening. There had been a strong spread of scorers up to this point, but the dynamic Jones became the first player to secure a double when she applied the finishing touches to a maul on 51 minutes.
In advance of Colombia finally getting their account up and running with a 62nd-minute penalty from replacement Maria I Arzuaga, head coach Bemand introduced Fiona Tuite and Clara Barrett for their international debuts.
While they weren’t scoring at the same rate as the opening period, Ireland nevertheless finished the game with two more tries to their name. Supplementing Parsons’ second of the night – which was followed up by the first of two conversions from Deely – Leah Tarpey also dotted down late on to round off another accomplished Irish display.
Scorers – Ireland: N Jones, B Parsons 2 tries each, N Behan, G Moore, M Deely, B Hogan, E McMahon, L Tarpey try each, D O’Brien 5 cons, M Deely 2 cons. Colombia: M I Arzuaga pen.
IRELAND: M Deely; B Parsons, E Higgins, A Dalton, N Behan; D O’Brien, A Reilly; L Djougang, N Jones, C Haney; E Corri, S Monaghan; G Moore, E McMahon, B Hogan.
Replacements: S McGrath for Haney, F Tuite for Corri, L Tarpey for Dalton, all 53 mins; C Barrett for O’Brien, 61 mins; M Scuffil-McCabe for Reilly, D Wall for Hogan, both 63 mins; S Delaney for Jones, N O’Dowd for Djougang, both 71 mins.
COLOMBIA: L Garcia; M Rios Mena, M Mestra, L Fernanda Zurique, A Manyoma; C Lopera, S Sarmiento; M Antonia Cortes, S Olave, G Gomez; S Velez, V Alvarez; V Yepes Pena, A Alzate, L Gutierrez.
Replacements: N Barajas for Antonia Cortes, C Naranjo for Gomez, L Villota Noguera for Sarmiento, all h-t; M I Arzuaga for Mestra, 56 mins; N Caisedo for Olave, D Roman Quintero for Alvarez, V Munoz for Alzate, S Granados Cardenas for Lopera, all 65 mins.
Referee: A Kuwai (Japan).
