Happy end to a tough week
Ireland dig deep to see off US
IRELAND 20
USA 10
DAIRE WALSH reports from The RDS
AT the end of a turbulent week, the Ireland women’s rugby team did the business on the field of play by securing a hard-fought victory over USA in the RDS last night.
At the eighth time of asking, Ireland finally claimed the spoils in a November international test. Beibhinn Parsons, Leah Lyons and the evergreen Lindsay Peat all crossed the whitewash as the hosts held off a stern challenge from the Eagles.
The build-up to this game had been dominated by comments attributed to the IRFU Director of Women’s Rugby Anthony Eddy at a media briefing on Monday.
While the fallout is set to rumble on, this win comes as a morale boost in the wake of Ireland’s failed bid to reach next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
This was an historic evening of sorts on Dublin’s southside, with the Ballsbridge venue hosting a women’s rugby international for the first time.
While Ciara Griffin was captaining the side, it was 41-year-old prop Lindsay Peat who led out the team on the night.
A former Dublin ladies footballer who also represented her country in underage soccer and senior basketball, this was set to be Peat’s final game in green.
Both sides had their share of possession during the early exchanges, but a series of errors serve to deny them momentum.
If the game was lacking a spark, however, it well and truly gained one in the 25th minute. After gathering a cross-field kick by out-half Stacey Flood, winger Parsons cut in off the left-flank and raced over in spectacular style for her eighth international try.
Even though Flood’s conversion was off-target, Parsons’ deadlock-breaker was the catalyst for a lively end to the half.
USA thought they had cancelled out the Irish lead when hooker Saher Hadman touched down just past the half-hour.
It was eventually ruled out by the TMO, but left-wing Bulou Mataitoga did get through for an unconverted try on 35 minutes.
Ireland entered the interval with a 12-5 cushion courtesy of Lyons’ powerful finish (and a Flood bonus strike) off a multi-phase move. Yet the USA are sixth in the world for a reason and showed what they are made of with an outstanding try four minutes after restart. Moving the ball through the hands at pace, Kayla Canett and Katana Howard released replacement Elizabeth Cairns for a fine effort in the left-corner.
Thanks to a place-kick malfunction from Megan Foster, Ireland remained in the ascendancy and subsequently restored their seven-point advantage on 49 minutes. With try-scorer Mataitoga in the sin-bin, the hosts sensed an opportunity to pounce and it was left for Peat to mark her potential swansong with a five-pointer off a line-out maul.
As the action progressed, Adam Griggs (in his penultimate game as Ireland head coach) opted to unload his bench. This included introducing debutant Maeve Óg O’Leary, who prevented an almost certain try inside the final-quarter.
Tess Feury then looked set for a simple score off a Canett break, but a lack of precision from the USA attack spared the Irish blushes.
This attacking surge from the Eagles was eventually weathered by Ireland and after Flood knocked over a routine penalty on the stroke of full-time, a gutsy home success was confirmed.
IRELAND: L Delany; L Sheehan, E Considine (E Higgins 55), S Naoupu, B Parsons (A-L Murphy Crowe 67); S Flood, A Hughes (K Dane 58); L Peat (K O’Dwyer 58), C Moloney (N Jones 58), L Lyons (L Djougang 55); N Fryday, S Monaghan; C Griffin (M Óg O’Leary 63), E McMahon, A Caplice (H O’Connor 68).
Scorers – Tries: B Parsons, L Lyons, L Peat. Con: S Flood. Pen: S Flood.
USA: K Canett; T Feury (S Levy 67), A Talei Bonte, K Howard, B Mataitoga; M Foster (M Hawkins 67), C Waters (O Ortiz 67); C Benson (N James 51), S Hamdan, H Rogers (M Learned 78); K Sommer, A Washington (H Taufoou 71); R Ehrecke, R Johnson (E Cairns 18), K Zackary.
Replacements: K Treder, M Learned, N James, H Taufoou, E Cairns, O Ortiz, M Hawkins, S Levy.
Scorers – Tries: B Mataitoga, E Cairns.
Referee: S Cox (RFU).