Women’s Six Nations: Ireland 5 England 49
The dam burst shortly after half-time and for 40 minutes Ireland were tossed on wave upon tide of England attacks. Their resistance was unflinching and fruitless. The context for this beating, though, is the 78-point hammering in Twickenham a year ago, and in so many ways this was different.
Ireland trailed by just two points at the break, having squared up to England without deference. They scored first and nearly scored again while England were stuck on zero. Apart from the scrum, Ireland’s fundamentals were good, and most of England’s errors were forced. At half-time it felt like a contest between peers.
It was over, though, 10 minutes after the restart. After a fourth scrum penalty was called against Ireland, Niamh O’Dowd was sent to the sinbin and while Ireland were reduced to 14 players England ran in two tries.
In the second half Ireland didn’t make their first entry into England’s 22 until two minutes from the end and by then they had been bombarded and battered. The unblinking courage of Ireland’s tackling was astonishing, but England’s power was simply overwhelming.
In the first half England had no rhythm behind the scrum, but that all changed. Once they got the ball to the edges they repeatedly generated overlaps and Ireland’s scramble defence couldn’t cope. By the end they had run in seven tries, six of them in the second half.
It is rare for a tight head prop to be named player of the match, and rarer still in a game that contained 54 points, but Maud Muir was given the award, and it reflected where the game had swung. Ireland were under pressure in the scrum right from the start, and ultimately they cracked.
Their lineout went the same way. In the first half Ireland lost just one lineout, but in the third quarter they lost four, and England’s third try came directly from one of those turnovers.
The huge crowd never deserted them. With 10 minutes to go there was another heart felt rendition of The Fields of Athenry, and half an hour after the final whistle Irish players were still on the field, signing posters and posing for selfies.
At half-time Ireland left the field to a standing ovation. A year ago, there were 38 points between the teams at the break, but, until then, everything about this game had been different. Ireland were smart and bolshie and refused to bow to the best team in the world.
England were forced to wait 35 minutes for their first score, and for most of that time Ireland were able to absorb whatever pressure the visitors could muster. Ireland, though, weren’t camped in the last ditch. They were terrific at the breakdown, spiking England’s momentum with a handful of turnovers, and Dannah O’Brien managed territory with a series of fine kicks.
Ireland’s driving maul had produced three tries against France and it nearly another after just ten minutes. England were marched back 15 metres towards their own line and only barely kept Ireland out.
Ireland’s breakthrough came after 25 minutes. They gathered the ball on the ground at the back of a messy lineout, O’Brien played a terrific box-kick, and the Ireland captain Amee-Leigh Costigan exploded past her opposite number to touch down in the corner.
Ireland, though, held the lead for just ten minutes. England launched a concerted period of pressure that finally led to a try from a lineout maul. The secondrow Morwenna Talling touched the ball down and the excellent Zoe Harrison landed the conversion to give England a 7-5 lead at the break.
After that, everything changed.
Scoring Sequence: 25 mins Costigan try, 5-0; 35 mins Talling try, Harrison con, 5-7; Harrison try and con, 5-14; Jones try, Harrison con, 5-21; Bern try, Harrison con, 5-28; Bern try, Harrison con, 5-35; Kildunne try, Harrison con, 5-42; Ford try, Aitchinson con, 5-49
IRELAND: S Flood (Railway Union); A McGann (Railway Union), A Dalton (Old Belvedere), E Higgins (Railway Union); A-L Costigan Railway Union, capt); D O’Brien (Old Belvedere/Leinster), E Lane (Blackrock College); N O’Dowd (Old Belvedere/Leinster), N Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), L Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster); F Tuite (Old Belvedere), D Wall (Exeter Chiefs/Munster); B Hogan (Old Belvedere/Ulster), E King (Old Belvedere), A Wafer (Blackrock College/Leinster).
Replacements: S McCarthy (Railway Union/Munster) for Tuite 48 mins; A Reilly (Blackrock College/Connacht) for Lane 55 mins; G Moore (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby) for Tuite 55 mins; N Fowley (Galwegians/Connacht) for O’Brien 59 mins, V Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow) for McGann 59 mins; C Moloney (Exeter Chiefs) for Jones 59 mins; C Haney (Blackrock College /Leinster) for Djougang 72 mins; R Campbell (Old Belvedere/Leinster) for Wall 72 mins,
Yellow card: N O’Dowd, 45 mins to 55 mins
ENGLAND: E Kildunne; A Dow, M Jones, T Heard, J Breach; Z Harrison, N Hunt; H Botterman, L Atkin-Davies, M Muir; M Tallinn, A Ward; Z Aldcroft capt, S Kabeya, A Matthews.
Replacements: A Cokayne for Botterman 53 mins, L Packer for Hunt 53 mins, S Bern for Muir 61 mins, R Galligan for Talling 61 mins M Feaunati for Kabeya 61 mins; H Aitchson for Heard 61 mins;, H Rowland for Breach 67 mins.
Referee: Aureilie Groizeleau (FFR)
