New era for Irish women’s rugby ends in painful defeat to Wales
Ireland were left shellshocked and searching for answers after Wales staged a stunning come from behind win in this Tik Tok Women’s Six Nations clash at the RDS this afternoon.
In front of a record attendance of 6,113 for a standalone women’s international on these shores, tries from Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe and Linda Djougang – either side of a similar effort by Carys Phillips for the visitors – helped Ireland to establish a 14-5 buffer at the interval.
This left them in a strong position to push on for an opening round victory under new head coach Greg McWilliams, but their stubborn opponents had other ideas.
Despite Ireland adding a third try through inside centre Stacey Flood, the new era for Irish rugby was to derail in dramatic fashion as Jasmine Joyce, Donna Rose (two) and Hannah Jones all crossed over to give Wales the spoils.
While Ireland kick-started the 2021 Championship with a 45-0 demolition of Wales, this was always likely to be a bigger test of their resolve. However, after initially finding it difficult to establish a foothold in the opposition half, the hosts ultimately broke the deadlock off their first meaningful attack on 17 minutes.
After Eimear Considine and Dorothy Wall created attacking momentum with strong carries into the Welsh ’22’, Flood threw the ball out wide for Tipperary native Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe to sprint over.
From the tightest of angles on the right-hand touchline fly-half Nicole Cronin (cousin for Leinster and Ireland hooker Sean Cronin) split the uprights to move Ireland seven points in front. It was anticipated Ireland would push on from this point, but Wales didn’t follow that script as hooker Phillips grounded off a line-out maul in the 27th-minute.
Yet the concession of this unconverted try was only a minor speed bump for Ireland and they subsequently reinforced authority just shy of the half-hour mark.
At the end of a multi-phased attack that saw several players moving the ball at pace through the hands, loosehead prop Linda Djougang was released for a five-pointer underneath the posts. Cronin effortlessly supplied the extras to give Ireland a commanding interval cushion.
Wales were proving themselves to be stubborn opponents, however, and Joyce side-stepped her way over the Irish line seven minutes after the resumption. After their opponents had a third try ruled out for a line-out obstruction, excellent approach work from Eimear Considine released Flood for an impressive finish on 57 minutes.
This left Ireland within range of a bonus point, but Wales fired back with another set-piece score from replacement prop Rose.
The 71st-minute sin-binning of Considine piled the pressure on the Irish defence and her absence in the closing moments of the play was decisive. After Rose added her second try off the bench, Jones rounded off a breakaway move for a game-clinching try.