Ireland face ‘huge task’ to reach World Cup after shock loss
RWC 2021 Europe qualifier
Spain 8
Ireland 7
Daire Walsh
Ireland women’s head coach Adam Griggs admitted his side “didn’t turn up” in their shock World Cup qualifier defeat to Spain at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma last night.
Expected to begin a four-team tournament with a win, the concession of a 72nd-minute try to Spanish replacement Lea Ducher now leaves Ireland with it all do in their bid to reach next year’s finals in New Zealand.
“I think we just didn’t turn up to play. We were probably outplayed in a lot of facets of the game by Spain.
“I thought we struggled a little bit to get that quick ball. Then when we did get that quick ball, we weren’t accurate enough on the edges to really punish them,” Griggs said.
“It’s hugely disappointing. It started from that first kick-off, where we knock on and let Spain into our half straight away. We were almost chasing the game a little bit from there.”
Having rattled the post off an initial kick, a Patricia Garcia penalty edged Spain into the lead on seven minutes. Ireland were quick to respond, however, with Beibhinn Parsons (who was surprisingly withdrawn in the second half) bursting through a converted score whitewash just over 60 seconds later.
This try came off a well-worked lineout, but Ireland suffered a series of set-piece malfunctions throughout the contest.
Still, they were perilously close to extending their 7-3 advantage either side of the interval with Cliodhna Moloney and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe both having tries ruled out by TMO Andrea Piardi.
Yet the longer the action progressed, the more Spain believed a major scalp was within their grasp.
The 67th-minute sin-binning of debutant Sam Monaghan heaped pressure on the Irish try line, which was eventually breached by Ducher off a quick penalty.
Skibbereen native Enya Breen had a chance to steal it at the death for Ireland, but her final minute place-kick was short of the target.
In order to keep their World Cup hopes alive, Ireland simply have to come out on top of their remaining two games against Italy and Scotland – and possibly with several points to spare.
“The task is huge now. What is in our hands is going out and making sure we try and beat Italy [on Sunday]. We have to do that with a good scoreline, to try and get bonus points. Then back that up again in the last week,” Griggs added.
“Ultimately that’s all we can take care of and the rest will be out of our hands. Which we obviously didn’t want in this scenario, but this is what we’re faced with and this is how we have to deal with it.”
Scorers for Spain: L Ducher try, P Garcia pen.
Scorers for Ireland: B Parsons try, S Flood con.
SPAIN: I Echebarria; B Dominguez, A Erbina, A Argudo, M Garcia; A Fernandez de Corres, P Garcia; S Jaurena, M Rodriguez, L Delgado; A Puig, M Castelo; O Fresneda, M Calvo, L Alameda.
Replacements: I Rico for Jaurena (47), C Castellucci for Castelo (55), L Ducher for Echevarría (61), M Brust for Delgado (65), E Aguirre for Argudo (68), C Blanco for Rodriguez (73).
IRELAND: E Considine; A-L Murphy Crowe, L Mulhall, S Naoupu, B Parsons; S Flood, K Dane; L Peat, C Moloney, L Djougang; A McDermott, N Fryday; D Wall, C Griffin, B Hogan.
Replacements: S Monaghan for McDermott (52), L Delany for Parson, E McMahon for Hogan (both 54), E Breen for Flood (56), N Jones for Moloney, L Feely for Peat, L Lyons for Djougang (all 66), E Lane for Naoupu (74).
Referee: N O’Donnell (England).